OCEAN CITY MEMORIES

The boardwalk at sunset - Ocean City, MD

"Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by."   ~  Allen Lacy

My Mother and Father (Grandma Verity and Grandpa Jack) bought a condo at Ocean City.  One year my Mom's family would go and the next year Grandpa Jack's family got their turn.  Even though there were three bedrooms, there wasn't enough room for me and my five children, my sister Debbie, her husband, and their two daughters (and later their two granddaughters), plus my Mom and Dad.  So that meant I could only bring two of my children and, of course, it was always the youngest two - Christian and Tiffany. My Mother generously purchased our airline tickets or we wouldn't have been able to go at all.  We stopped going to the ocean when Christian was about 11 years old and Tiffany 10.

MEMORIES OF GOING TO OCEAN CITY

Ocean City.  Our joyous escape from the stresses of being a single mom, escape from the stresses of being a child of a single mom.  For just a short time, two weeks, there were no worries about finding the money to pay bills, no long hours at work, no coming home exhausted but still needing to be the mom you all needed.  This was our time to just relax and put worries behind.  No one will ever know how difficult it was for all of us - five children and me.  Never, never enough money for what we needed.  You all sacrificed so much and rarely ever complained.  So Ocean City was the reward.  The thing to look forward to; and knowing our turn was coming made life a little easier and gave us something to look forward to.

You** and I would go off by ourselves and just enjoy being together.  That never happened at home so this, too, was something we looked forward to.

Do you remember how I saved and saved and saved for four years so we all - Stephanie, Bobby, Robyn, you, Tiffany, and me - could go on vacation together.  I had saved $600.00.  A fortune!  We talked about the vacation and where we would go for over a year.  The destination changed many times but the joy in thinking about it and planning it filled many conversations and warmed our hearts and gave excitement to our lives.  Then just weeks before we were going to go, the car broke down.  It took every penny I had saved to fix it.  The entire $600.00.

I cried and cried.  You would hug me and say it was alright but you had tears in your eyes too.  I was thankful I had the money to get the car fixed but that didn't mend our broken hearts or soothe our disappointment.  We never did get that family vacation for all of us. Even now it makes me sad.

Ocean City.  Such happy memories.  When I am sad thinking about you not being here any longer,  my mind goes back to those happy times spent at the beach.  Those memories never fail to cheer me up and in my mind I get to spend time with you all over again.  Holding your hand and looking down into your sweet smiling face.  I miss you so much my precious child.

**Christian