This is the place where I spent my summers. This is the place where my best memories were made. The ocean licks my feet as I stare out at the waves that roll in creating a melody. The sun sets gently creating a shadow, cooling down the sand that had previously scorched. Small children screech with pleasure chasing one and other into the waves, laughing as salt sprays their sunburned faces. Couples walk hand in hand as the sun casts a golden halo upon their heads. To the right almost falling down is a broken pier. Laced with old memories and taken down in a second by a storm. Preceding the pier is a trail of boulders forming a jetty reaching until the blue green sea overtakes their gray form.
Behind, lays the rows upon rows of houses making up the seemingly small village encompassing the island. The name proves the location right in the summer though: Ocean City. Tourists crowd the island from 1st to 58th street every week. Although, technically I am one it never has feel like it. I know the island as well as I know my own neighborhood. I’ve journeyed to Ocean City since I was three months old.
I know that if I step out the front door and turn to the left I’m walking uptown. Three blocks takes you to the center of the southern end of the island. The line for the definition of a “mom and pop” ice cream parlor wraps down the street every single night. The building is a blue the color of the sky with peeling paint spelling out the words “A La Mode” on a red sign. Streams of people wait, chatting happily, bright sweatshirts protecting them from the strong breeze with salt laced intricately through it. The line moves slowly but no one minds.
I know that if you pay a dollar fifty and get on the old wooden trolley and go down seven stops you’ll be at Fifteenth Street. The “height” of Ocean City’s nightlife. The seemingly rugged but surprisingly strong light brown planks that create the boardwalk encompass almost three miles filled with restaurants, shops, arcades, mini golf courses, amusement and Water Park rides. The lights reflect the water creating a mirror on the ocean.
I know that this is the place where I am happiest. The place that always seems to hold the days that scorched like the Sahara and the ocean that felt like the Arctic, perfect for a July afternoon. The place that created the best times.