Written March 22, 2023

Day 29 of 40 in a 45-day period: An ode to the OC(MD), part 1 of many. I’ve vacationed in Ocean City every summer since I was a baby, and worked there for five of them. My dad has only missed three summers in his lifetime. We have a long history there so this treasure trove of stories will be told over time.

As with any tradition, the package of beach stories is equal parts people and places. We’ve stayed bayside, oceanblock and oceanfront, downtown, a strong stretch between two places on 64th street and close to the Delaware line.

We’ve caught sunsets from my grandmother’s timeshare and my Aunt Mimi and Uncle Tommy’s old place on 26th Street. There have been sunrise walks when kids of various generations were younger and figured every vacation day should begin with a sunrise.

When we stayed bayside my dad would load up a cart, before beach carts were all the rage, and walk it the 15-minute walk across 26th Street, up the ramp at Jonah and the Whale with the smell of fried food in the air and onto the beach where we would be for the day.

On 54th Street the fire alarm went off and Aunt Val wasn’t sure if she should wake my brother from his nap and evacuate. This explains Michael’s exceptional beach napping ability and they did eventually exit.

During our years on 64th Street I’d walk up the block to the pay phone at Surfrider with my grandmother so she could use her phone card to make long distance calls to Uncle Sonny or Aunt Mimi to say hello. Our time on 64th Street could be its own series of posts. And an ode to the OC(MD) could be its own Lenten challenge and even then, I’d probably miss so much.

The best part of the OC(MD) is knowing every year all of us find time in our schedules to head to the beach, squeeze into a rental and be together. It’s loud and crowded and someone may end up sleeping in a closet. Those weeks are filled with laughs, a few tears, countless pounds of M&Ms and the obligatory trip to the boardwalk.

It’s the time and place where memories and stories are born, only to be shared in multiple posts over time.