My mother is 90 years old and lives in upstate New York, near Hunter Mountain. Last year she hand-wrote four separate, identical books of her “life story” for each of her four granddaughters. She was guided in her writing by one of those wonderful “question and answer” formats that walk people through their lives, making it easy for them to document their life stories for their family.

Her answer to “Favorite Vacation” and “Favorite Place in the World” was the same: Long Beach Island.