{"id":10997,"date":"2022-11-14t07:26:01","date_gmt":"2022-11-14t07:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/essay-can-i-make-it-back-to-my-beach\/"},"modified":"2022-11-14t07:26:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14t07:26:01","slug":"crane-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/crane-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"essay | can i make it back to my beach?"},"content":{"rendered":"
no matter where i go, my heart will always live on the north shore of massachusetts. these are the brown rock quarries that my mom swam in every summer growing up, the rocky shores my great-grandparents sailed, fished, and maintained their houses on, the stretches of sand my family stands on every jan. 1, wind-whipped and freezing but our hearts full with the reminder that the ocean will be there for us year after year. the icy ocean waters of massachusetts are powerful and unpredictable. these are the choppy waves that i\u2019ve ridden on a broken boogie board, the ocean that covered my 10-year-old body and slammed me upside-down into the rough sand before depositing me unceremoniously on dry land with seaweed hair, an unrestrained smile, and my boogie board tied to my wrist. i would let my mother be concerned over my dramatic tumble for a few salty coughs before i\u2019d run right back into the froth. i\u2019ll always choose to get back in that water.<\/p>\n
but soon, i might not be able to.<\/p>\n
each year, these beaches get smaller and smaller due to sea level rise. crane beach in ipswich, massachusetts, is the most popular beach on the north shore, with more than 350,000 annual visitors<\/a>. tragically, crane also takes the lead in dramatic beach erosion and flooding. crane beach has already lost 112 acres of shoreline<\/a> \u2014 the beach my mom ran around as a child isn\u2019t the same as the one i did. nearly 1,500 feet<\/a> of sand and dunes have been lost since i was born in 2001. the beach has a serious flooding problem, and water sometimes covers part of argilla road, the only road to the beach. a stretch of the road is surrounded by the great salt marsh, which regularly floods as a result of sea level rise and storm surge. in 10 years, argilla road could be flooded on a daily basis<\/a>, and in 50 years, the beach could become completely inaccessible. will my kids even be able to get to the beach that i grew up on?<\/p>\n