Thank You Nantucket

To the editor:
Thank you Nantucket for more than ten years of welcoming us every summer as we drive off the ferry.

Thank you Nantucket for your Main Street full of smiling people and cobblestones as we bump and shift towards home.

Thank you Nantucket for the house we call bliss and the ease we feel at the sound of shells crunching under our tires as we arrive.

Thank you Nantucket for your open land, your sweet smell of hydrangeas, and the rosa rugosa we call mangroves that add beloved scratches to our car doors.

Thank you Nantucket for your sandy wind swept beaches full of happiness and the occasional family squabble.

Thank you Nantucket for sharing your golden sunsets during our traditional tacos on the beach, putting fire in the sky as we put salsa in our mouths!

Thank you Nantucket for your culinary wonders prepped with Farm veggies as we are served by the kindest people from all corners of the world.

Thank you Nantucket for your waffle bowl cookie butt ice cream with hot fudge, as we gladly stand in line.

Thank you Nantucket for your museums, lighthouses, and monuments, we are in awe of your dedication to historic preservation.

Thank you Nantucket for catching my penny in the warm summer ocean by the light house as I wished for a safe return.

Thank you Nantucket for knowing that last big wish was made as I sailed home to start a terrible treatment for a sick disease called cancer.

Most importantly, thank you Nantucket for hearing my wish, for enveloping me in the joy you hold, and for welcoming me back healed.

Thank you Nantucket for your magic.

Susan Joseph Smith