On this Thanksgiving weekend I want to thank my mother (she’s on the right) for bringing Martha’s Vineyard into my life and the lives of my family.  Little did she know when she set me down on this beach for the first time what an important and life defining occasion it was.

My entire family has been to MV with me at one time or another but never all of us at the same time.   That’s okay though as the Vineyard is a different experience depending on who I’m there with.  Or if I’m with no one at all… and that’s nice too.

We’ve all been to the beach… it’s an island, you can’t not go to a beach. 

 My husband Bob is not much of a beach goer… he’d rather be golfing so I rarely get him to MV in the summer.  This obviously is not a summer picture… it’s in October on our anniversary a few years ago on the beach at Aquinnah.

 Passing the Vineyard to new generations is a tradition for lots of families and mine is no different.  Here at State Beach in Oak Bluffs in the early evening one May is my daughter Deb and her dog Chappy. 

 My daughter Patty and son-in-law Mike at Aquinnah… actually on a beach in the summer. 

 The next generation appears.  My grandchildren Tiffany and Tyler at Edgartown lighthouse during their first trip to the Vineyard.   It was the month of May, not swimming weather but good for collecting shells and rocks and seeing the ocean for the first time.  

 Their next trip was in the month of August… ideal for their first dip in the ocean.    

Thank you mom.