HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

We’ve hit the wall a little early this year. Usually it occurs in early August when you can no longer avoid a sensation that things are a little too crowded. Yeah, they’ve been crowded for a while, but suddenly it’s personal. You can’t stand it a moment longer. You’re in danger of picking a fight with a preppy who charges in front of your vehicle with the excuse, “Sorry, I’ve got to get to my yacht!” (Yes, this was actually said to Marty and me in August of ’82 or thereabouts and we shared fantasies of drowning him in the harbor).

You know we’ve hit the wall when we start asking each other, “Do you remember it ever being this crowded?” Then a follow-up question is along the lines of, “I think we just forget, don’t you?”

There are three solutions to the Summer Wall. The first is physical: Go someplace else if you can. You can be the problem of another extra body squeezed into a gorgeous place too overpopulated to fully enjoy. The second is emotional: Go ahead, pound that preppy. We’ve all known people who’ve treated themselves to some major melt-downs of this variety; I think there must be wonderful facilities for them off-Island, because some of them have never been glimpsed again on these shores.

And then last Sunday night I stumbled across a third possibility, and it’s, well, let’s call it the cosmological approach. We could view the constant parade of people – families with double-wide strollers, dog-walkers with puggles, schnoxers and rottpinnies, eleven-year-old boys on rollerblades just missing old ladies with walkers, smooching couples who haven’t yet booked their room, and all the people who wear special smiles when they’ve got plastic cups of frappacinos? frappacini? in their hands — we can gaze on them or even on wider swaths of humanity assembled in Ocean Park to listen to the community band in a light evening drizzle, and we can L-U-V luv them!

I wouldn’t be writing this if on Sunday night I hadn’t attended the Ram Dass Be-In at the Simon Gallery where Ram Dass’s cowriter, Rameshwar Das signed their new book, Be Love Now, and the great man himself joined us from Maui on Skype and spread enough good will through the room to light up the whole Island.

Well, of course, this kind of serenity transmitted through a guru only lasts so long, but I brought it with me back home on the bus, enraptured with every single passenger, then met up with an Island buddy for the above-mentioned band playing at the bandstand in a light rain, where I continued to spread the love around, and also made the buddy tell me the story again about the time he raced his boat onto the sands of the north shore because a hole had developed under the bow, and it was a choice between a crash landing or sinking, and I laughed myself silly. And with the lights and the band whomping through the Star-Spangled Banner, and the L-U-V, I found myself thinking, “I can’t believe I live here! It’s so fantastic!”

So, there you have it. The next morning, I woke up the old crabby me, but I’ve tried to convey this new third way of dealing with the crowds to some of the Oak Bluffers I pass in the streets. Maybe the third way is only possible if you talk to Ram Dass daily on Skype. But maybe just try viewing the throngs from this new, enlightened angle. You might have one of them, whaddya call’ems?, spiritual breakthroughs.

Here are some key, family-friendly events at the Tabernacle scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Worship service is every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the Tabernacle with a different guest preacher. This Sunday, July 10, the preacher is Rev. Liz Walker from Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain. Next Sunday, July 17, the guest preacher is Rev. Dr. Jim Kidd, retired pastor from Asylum UCC Church, Hartford, Conn.

Family movie nights at the Tabernacle include a screening of How to Train Your Dragon, this Sunday, July 10, at 7 p.m. Babe screens on Monday, July 18 at 7 p.m. and on Monday, July 25, The Water Horse.

Community Sings are every Wednesday evening at 8 p.m.

There is a very special event at the Tabernacle on Monday, July 11: David Crohan in concert. This is David’s Birthday Benefit Bash. All proceeds from his 8 p.m. show will go to Freedom Guide Dog Foundation and Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund. Tickets are $30 general admission and $50 for premium seating and a reception at 7 p.m. with David.

On Saturday, July 16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the Tabernacle Flea Market offers amazing items for sale.

That evening, July 16 at 8 p.m. is a concert featuring bass /baritone Ron Williams. Tickets are $15.

This coming Saturday, July 9, comedy writer Marty Nadler will be hosting an evening of laughs at Grace Church in Vineyard Haven, 7 p.m. You can enjoy wine and cheese and all proceeds will benefit the MV Center for Living’s adult day care program. Tickets are $25 — worth every penny. For reservations, call Leslie at 508-939-9440.