The Great Escape

Jim McSherry was always our leader when we were young. We were mostly bored out of our minds desperate to find something to do. There was no technology, smart phones or video games as you have heard from us old timers ad nauseam on social media. We did do a lot of interesting things but in between those adventures mostly I remember walking to the Shopping Center to get a coke or a snack to start the day. Along the way we met with other members of the gang that lived along this route. So totally boring and mindless it seemed to me that I would spend the rest of my life walking to Carteret Shopping Center with this crew.

I thought I always had a plan in the back of my mind but it seemed too selfish and stupid to share to anybody. It was my secret.
My first love in life was the New Jersey Shore. I was carried there as a toddler by my parents, and was taken there in my early years by aunts, uncles, sisters and their boyfriends. Something magical happened to me when I sat in from of those endless rolling waves. It was mesmerizing inner peace and freedom. It attacked all of my senses, the salt air, the hot sun, the sand between my toes. This was always my heaven on earth.

As our fearless leader Jim McSherry was the one that started the football team (he was quarterback), he was the one that initiated side street baseball. He told us where to go. He told us what to do. If you didn’t listen or do what he said you were shunned mentally from the “gang” He was also much stronger than us and apparently a good fighter. (later on he did join a boxing gym and fought in the Golden Gloves).

One day James Vincent McSherry began our daily routine walk to the shopping center with a plan. We listened intently as he explained what his old brother had recently done, we would now follow. The plan was to walk to the Woodbridge train station and take a south bound NJ transit train as far south as it would go which was Bay Head. From there we would hitchhike a few miles north on route 35 to Belmar. Belmar was a quaint little shore down. This was the McSherry beach of choice. You see each family in New Jersey had adopted a favorite beach to visit. I know for the Hartmans it was Point Plesant and the Gitter enjoyed Bradley (Bagel) Beach. Stuff’s family went to Seaside Park. Jim McSherry was our leader and Belmar was “his” beach so Belmar it was.

Belmar was unique in a way that they had huge wooden lifeguard boats that they turned over at night. We could tunnel underneath them at night to create a place to sleep. A couple times when we did this adventure we actually rented a room. Today I still wonder where all the adults were. Our parents for one thing, allowing us to travel by train 50 miles south, hitchhike and rent a room to stay over night. Also, what kind of responsible mature adult rents out a room to a group of teenagers all obviously under the age of 18?

So what stuck in my mind was that this great adventure and rebellious plan actually worked. This beach escape became a permanent fixture in the back of my mind. As the gang went on to different high schools and some of us to college we separated. It happened swiftly and without warning like life usually does things. I don’t really remember saying goodbye to anybody. Life just happened. If I would have known that our very last walk down to Carteret Shopping Center was our final, I would have done things so much differently. I would have a taken camera and lined us all up in front of Krausers holding our cokes and snacks in a cheer. I would ask one of the passing adults to snap our photo. Then I would individually hug each and every one of the gang and wish them well in life. “Bless your journey, whatever it may be.” I would say with tear filled eyes.

I struggled greatly in an all boy High School dominated by geniuses and talented sport playing fellow students. They had trophies with their names on them in the huge glass case out in the reception area of the school. The administration had a flawless reputation to keep. We are the best and nothing else. They hung up newspaper clippings on a board by the trophy case demonstrating that greatness. I was just barely getting by with my grades and at home it was now 5 years since the death of my father and almost pure chaos had kicked in. It was also around this time I started to drink. I drank to get drunk. This was a fine escape.

I was delivering the Star Ledger in the early morning my first three years of high school and I adored getting up early to do this. There was something magical and QUIET about being the first one up in a house loaded with 12 children. (at this point Barb had moved out and three step brothers had moved in). I loved the complete stillness of the early morning when I walked my route. Sometimes I would see stuff in neighbors garbage that I took. I found a cool wooden box hand engraved which I still have today filled with concert tickets. One time I found a box filled with National Geographic magazines and I picked up and took it home.

It was in these magazines I discovered the world. How huge and beautiful it is. There was something bigger, more important and much more beautiful out side of Carteret New Jersey.

I had concocted a plan and it was to run away from everything. I would save enough money for a one way ticket to Hawaii, pack nothing, fly there and then spend the rest of my life there. Since Jim McSherry had taught me that you can sleep on the beach that was my plan. I would stay on the warm beaches of Hawaaii until I could find a small job, maybe washing dishes and then just work my up. I told myself I wouldn’t tell anybody where I was. I would have just vanished with a new life.

With no internet checking flight prices and departure times was done with a phone and at times my vision of living on a beach in the Pacific ocean seemed unrealistic. But I was determined and several times I had saved a couple hundred dollars in the bank for my plane ticket but then “something always came up.” I don’t know whatever happened to this plan to escape. It got lost in the rough and tough tumbles of life. It was still always there, though, whenever I got frustarted or lost a job or fell behind on my bills.

It was only in writing this now and remembering that I realize a very influential friend has been gone in my life since I turned 20. It was one hot day in the Summer that Jim McSherry knocked on my door and said, “I’m leaving now. We’re moving to Arizona” His father had asthma so bad that the doctor told him that moving to Arizona would be the only left to save him. So Jim McSherry moved away and started a new life. He came back to visit a few times and I went there once to visit him in Arizona State University but it was never the same. He was on the other side of the country and so was his imagination, his laughter, his impersonations, his animated story telling and all the magic that he brought to any friendship.
Now he is slowly dying from congestive heart failure and I ask that anybody who reads this to say a prayer for him and his family. He is a great man.

About George C. Hartman

Redesiging design, coloring outside the lines, rolling down hills, figuring out strange people, dreaming in black and white, photographing in black and white, juggling, body surfing, fantasy football, painting, design, digital art and photo manipulation, green oceans, blue oceans, museums, discovering small towns, biking, beach, relationships that tear my heart out, bad poetry, movie making and BLOGGING
This entry was posted in friends, the beginning and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

12,119 Responses to The Great Escape

  1. Keith says:

    Insert your card sumatriptan succinate tablets 50mg The “Family Traits Inheritor Calculator” could be used to predict the chance of a child being born with an inherited disease, as well as picking up details of a person’s future appearance, such height and weight, and maybe even personality.

  2. Brody says:

    Enter your PIN what is albuterol sulfate nebulizer The FTSE 100 was up 21.61 points, or 0.3 percent, at6,565.02 by 0806 GMT, building on the previous session’s 0.6percent advance, with the S&P 500 index and the Dowindustrials having closed at record highs on Thursday.

  3. Brant says:

    Three years cipro online uk Twitter saw a flood of passionate comments about the verdict. In the minutes following the announcement, tweets about the case shot to more than 47,800 TPM (tweets per minute) according to the ABC News Social Desk.

  4. Lowell says:

    Please wait what is meloxicam 7.5 milligrams used for Writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton treats all of them with respect, and we slowly see why the counselors choose to be there. Grace has a disturbing history with her prison-inmate father, and Mason was part of a group of foster children raised lovingly by an older couple, glimpsed briefly in one of this special film’s most moving scenes. Their calm, kind demeanors speak volumes as we learn what they’ve moved past.

  5. Myles says:

    Can I call you back? is the viagra online real More importantly though, to Woods the competitor, is the mix of experience and talent on the United States team that makes them favorites to beat the International team for a fifth straight time in the biennial tournament.

  6. Christian says:

    Do you need a work permit? diovan to get high
    This demand for its services were reflected in its half-year results on Thursday, as it announced revenues for the first six months of 2013 were up 13pc at £1.8bn. Of that, three percentage points was due to organic growth, and the other 10 to acquisitions.

  7. Kennith says:

    When can you start? ciprofloxacin hcl 250 mg for uti US Secretary of State John Kerry, who will travel to London on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for the talks, said that the Syrian opposition would never agree to such a perspective, setting the scene for tough negotiations.

  8. Williams says:

    I’m interested in this position how much does stendra cost The interior ministry said that 1,004 Muslim Brotherhood “elements” had been arrested, accusing members of Mursi’s movement of committing acts of terrorism during the clashes, which took the deathtoll to 700 since Wednesday.

  9. Ashton says:

    this post is fantastic cymbalta dosage above 60 mg Research tells us that children who start school ‘late’ – i.e. after 5 years – can take as little as three months to catch up to those who have been in formal education for the preceding eighteen months. Of course, those who can read early should do so, for boredom is the greatest cancer of education.

  10. Allen says:

    There’s a three month trial period retail price ventolin inhaler Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, acting on behalf ofSnyder, quickly filed an appeal with the state appeals court.His office said motions seeking emergency consideration wereexpected to be filed later on Friday.

  11. Anton says:

    I’m doing an internship what is venlafaxine hcl er 37.5 mg cap Upsetting the common wisdom on tactical transport, Embraer is hitching its hopes to the same family of engines powering the Airbus A320 airliner, and promising an edge when it comes to maximum payload, cruising speed and altitude. Lockheed argues nothing can match the durability of the turboprop.

  12. Thaddeus says:

    Just over two years requip generic manufacturers At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 the Allies redrew boundaries, carved up empires and established the first-ever world organisation, the League of Nations.

  13. Garth says:

    A jiffy bag l-theanine sleep aid dosage But the NFL backed off after U.S. Senate Republican leaderMitch McConnell wrote the league and other professional sportsorganizations urging them not to support Obamacare, warning themit was too political.

  14. Jesse says:

    I’m training to be an engineer costco arimidex price To ride out turbulence, emerging markets should allow their currencies to depreciate and be prepared to flood dysfunctional markets with cash reserves. As a last resort, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has said the fund stands ready to bailout countries in need.

  15. Cyrus says:

    Best Site Good Work medsi.org “One of the good things I learned is to have patience. There were no other good things about that period,” Danial says, adding that he felt only marginally less precarious in Turkey than he did in Iran. “It is not a safe country. They pretend that it’s diverse and safe, but it’s not.”

  16. Gregory says:

    Could I borrow your phone, please? farmacie online cialis generico A statement from the French Rugby Federation later said under International Rugby Board (IRB) rules and the FFR-LNC agreement “no international clubs match or competition can be organised without it nor without its agreement”.

  17. Haley says:

    I live here super beta prostate vs flomax Be aware that the A3 experience can depend how deeply you plunder the options list. Top-spec MMI Navigation Plus brings extraordinary top-end graphics and functionality; cheaper models’ sat-nav comes with a smaller, cheaper display with simpler graphics. But then, that’s business; Audi is no different to other premium carmakers in this regard.

  18. Tyler says:

    I’ll call back later price of crestor at rite aid
    Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the agenda of the Russian president’s talks had not been announced, although he confirmed that nuclear energy and the Bushehr nuclear power plant were some of the topics up for discussion.

  19. Louis says:

    Are you a student? cheapest place buy rogaine foam
    How do you solve a problem like an ex? Personally, I like to end things and be done with them. Maybe blog about it. Maybe not. But to be carrying on ages later, plotting out how to humiliate someone in public? That, I’m afraid, smacks of a childish inability to move on with your own life.

  20. George says:

    I’ve got a part-time job turmeric curcumin uk A vendor holds garlands of marigold flowers as he waits for customers at a wholesale flower market ahead of Durga Puja festival in Kolkata. The garlands are in great demand as people seek to decorate temples and their homes during the Durga Puja festival from October 11 to October 14, which is the biggest religious event for Bengali Hindus. Hindus believe that the goddess Durga symbolises power and the triumph of good over evil. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

  21. Alex says:

    A Second Class stamp duricef acne Margaret Chan, director of the World Health Organization, addressed the Ebola meeting ahead of Obama and warned that the outbreak will likely get worse before it gets better

  22. Homer says:

    I’m originally from Dublin but now live in Edinburgh ciprofloxacino con dexametasona gotas oftalmicas Plans for two pupils and a teacher from every state-funded secondary school in England to visit the Western Front battlefields and for a service at Glasgow Cathedral on August 4 next year were announced last month.

  23. Junior says:

    Best Site Good Work men’s virility power uk The world’s biggest luxury car maker has not given a sales target for the i3, although Robertson has said it aims to be “a significant player” in the market for electric vehicles which he has pegged at about 150,000 cars worldwide in 2012.

  24. Moises says:

    Where did you go to university? cialis plus efficace que le viagra Southern Company, which has spent $9 billion retrofittingplants and provides power to more than 4 million customers inthe U.S. Southeast, has said the share of Illinois Basin coal itburns could rise five-fold in the coming years. Last year, itaccounted for about 7 percent of its coal burn.

  25. Spencer says:

    I’m training to be an engineer how much does lamisil cost in canada Results of an autopsy were inconclusive. Officials and family members are awaiting the results of blood-toxicology tests to learn whether there was something in his system that could have killed Rakes. Kelly said he expects to get at least some preliminary information by Wednesday.

  26. Virgilio says:

    Yes, I love it! synthesis of dapoxetine hydrochloride -Kalymon, 92, is still in Michigan despite exhausting appeals earlier this year in a process that took nine years. Prosecutors said Kalymon, who was born in Poland, was a member of the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in Lviv, which rounded up Jews and imprisoned them. Prosecutors said Kalymon also shot Jews. He was ordered deported to Ukraine, Poland, Germany or any other country that would take him. His attorney, Elias Xenos, said his client was a teenage boy who was essentially guarding a sack of coal.

  27. Elizabeth says:

    Get a job que es levitra 20 mg Granderson is hoping for better and he believes Long can help not just him, but Lucas Duda, too

  28. Francisco says:

    Sorry, I ran out of credit adalat episodes online
    While neither Amazon nor its biggest competitor in the video streaming market (Netflix) like to release specific figures about just how much cloud-based content they offer, it’s clear just based on looking at what’s available on their landing pages that Netflix is leading the charge here — at least in terms of more popular selections.

  29. Marshall says:

    I’m only getting an answering machine healthplus pharmacy ikoyi The proposals come in in the wake of the scandal at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation trust, where hundreds more patients died than would have been expected amid “appalling” failings in care.

  30. Alvin says:

    I’d like , please lipitor 20 mg price philippines An initial autopsy conducted the morning after Finnerty’s body was found determined that he had a “slightly enlarged heart and slightly cloudy lungs” but “no trauma to the body at all.” The final report includes toxicology results and the determination that he had CTE.

  31. Irea says:

    How much is a First Class stamp? new nuclear plant exelon It offers deep blacks that make films look superb, and as the name implies, it’s at a point where it’s a fussy eye that can perceive the differences between top rivals.

  32. Patrick says:

    I’m training to be an engineer celexa price canada The Justice Department said S&P had argued that the casesbelong in federal court because they touch on the meaning of theFirst Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and a 2006 federal lawgoverning credit rating agencies.

  33. Augustine says:

    Could I have a statement, please? tofranil tab 10mg It’s not that he needs to be the ace, not the way Hiroki Kuroda is pitching these days. But chances are he needs to be better than this if the Yankees are going to hit Girardi’s number of 35-12 and live to see October.

  34. Elwood says:

    I’d like to speak to someone about a mortgage hydroxyzine hcl 25 mg tablet high Though it’s clear that females are cleaner overall, the results found that age is a factor as well. For those who answered once every three months, 55% were ages 18 to 25 with men accounting for 71%, while those who claimed to wash sheets once a week were in the 35 to 50 age range. Of the weekly washers, 62% were female. Indeed, 17% of single men participating in the study admitted that partners found their unhygienic practices unnerving compared to just 2% of women.

  35. John says:

    I stay at home and look after the children what is vitamin d analog rocaltrol PAL Holdings, which is looking to retake market share lostto archrival Cebu Air Inc, swung to a net profit of1.46 billion pesos ($33 million) in the April-June quarter froma 1.06 billion peso net loss a year ago.

  36. Kendrick says:

    Best Site Good Work procomil delay spray uk The research found that although the differences were slight, there was a cumulative effect as the child aged and failing to have a good sleep hygiene routine could disrupt early neurological development.

  37. Jeffrey says:

    Could you transfer $1000 from my current account to my deposit account? alli coupon july 2012 As the temperatures fall and the festive season beckons, a faux fur jacket should be at the top of every woman's wish list. It is simply the chicest way to wrap up in style this winter, and red is a hot hue to warm up your winter wardrobe.

  38. Randal says:

    Have you seen any good films recently? diflucan generic over the counter Meanwhile, Toshiba’s 4K TVs, which will begin shipping to North America in August, will cost $4,999 (£3,270) for the 58-inch version, $6,999 (£4,560) for the 65-inch and $16,999 (£11,145) for the high-end 84-inch.

  39. Randall says:

    Could you send me an application form? cymbalta discount coupon card Akaimai’s shares fell to $45.33 in extended trading, afterclosing at $51.87 on the Nasdaq. Nearly 2 million shares tradedafter the bell. (Additional reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and ChandniDoulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian, Maju Samueland Ted Kerr)

  40. Stacey says:

    Children with disabilities miten saa viagra reseptin Although there has been some talk about Samsung using another material for its smartphones, such as carbon fiber or aluminum, it is expected that the Note 3 will have the same plastic finish seen on previous smartphones released by Samsung this year.

  41. Giovanni says:

    I’m self-employed tadalafil and dapoxetine reviews Netflix late Monday reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that exceeded analyst estimates, boosted by healthy subscriber growth, and provided a fourth-quarter earnings outlook above forecasts. But with the stock having nearly quadrupled in value since the start of the year, Mr. Hastings warned investors not to get carried away. The stock was sharply higher in after-hours trading Monday, but tumbled more than 9% Tuesday.

  42. Eldon says:

    A financial advisor digoxin toxicity symptoms in toddlers The United States has been cooperating with Yemeni security forces to track and kill suspected AQAP members in Yemen’s deserts – a strategy that rights groups have criticized for causing repeated civilian deaths.

  43. Palmer says:

    I’d like to apply for this job buy viagra from uk online
    Vitera provides practice-management software and electronichealth-record products to specialty-physician practices. Thecompany carries a B/B3 issuer rating. The first-lien debt wasrated B/B2 and the second lien was rated CCC /Caa2.

  44. Ian says:

    What do you want to do when you’ve finished? escitalopram uk name It was quickly apparent Alvarez was merely the newest member of The Money Team, a $12 million employee not terribly inclined to challenge the boss after the first few rounds of being slammed square in the face by Mayweather’s jab and in the ears with a string of right hands about which he could do nothing but absorb them.

  45. Nestor says:

    Recorded Delivery inderal la user reviews The low oxygen kills animals that cannot swim away, such as worms, starfish, small burrowing shrimp and some crabs, hurting food quality for fish that return in the fall when oxygen levels rise, she wrote in her annual report.

  46. Danielle says:

    I’m retired withings steel hr uk release A morning of negotiations while Zeidan was held at anInterior Ministry office by a group employed by the state toprovide security in Tripoli ended with him being freed unharmedand then pointedly avoiding criticism of his erstwhile captors.

  47. Jane says:

    Do you need a work permit? adidas allegra iv review With its remaining tower blocks still dominating the skyline and the constant background hum of the motorway, the site of a stone circle on top of a hill in Sighthill Park could be seen as a surprising one.

  48. Cecil says:

    Have you got any qualifications? urispas 200 mg fiyat That testimony paved the way for the opening of investigations into politicians who also allegedly benefited from kickbacks.

  49. Jerrell says:

    What sort of music do you like? effexor 75 mg effets secondaires “This is good for everybody in security,” George Kurtz, CEOof cybersecurity startup CrowdStrike, said of the FireEye IPO.”It shows that there are a lot of legs in the security marketgoing forward as the security market emerges.”

  50. Santiago says:

    I’d like to pay this cheque in, please 53b0.com
    My younger brother is 22. I had to work hard not to mention that I was far too busy studying to be thinking of marriage when I was his age; for my grandmother, a master’s degree pales in comparison to the achievement of a good engagement.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *