Every year, as the countdown to the end of school and start of summer begins, I’m faced with the difficult task of explaining why I will be MIA for the next three months. While my friends share their exciting summer vacation plans with me, I struggle to put the right words together to define my unique summer experience for them. I’ve spent my summers in Atlantic Beach for my entire life; I’ve tried not to sound bratty referring to my family’s summer home as my “beach house” and after 21 years, still don’t exactly know how to describe my unique summers. Here’s the best I could do: a list of ten reasons why my summer is and always has been better than anyone else’s.

1. I live on the beach, which means a lot of free sun and a lot of amazing ocean pictures.2. I've been lucky enough to have grown up going to one of the most amazing beach clubs on Long Island, whose lifestyle is indescribable to anyone who hasn’t done the same.

3. I have the greatest summer job in the world; I’m an ocean lifeguard.

4. Which means getting paid to be at the beach, staring at the ocean, working with my best friends, and of course attending to our lifeguard responsibilities.

5. Taco Tuesday’s are not only a thing, but are mandatory.

6. Amazing food doesn’t stop at tacos…. Long Beach is home to some of the best restaurants...and bagels... ever.

7. AND Long Beach nightlife is better than anywhere else in the summer. There are tons of bars to choose from, all walking distance from one another, and each offer a completely different atmosphere.

8. But when LB bars get old, which they do once in a while when you frequent them as much as my friends and I do, NYC is a short train ride away for a change of pace.

9. Summer fun activities aren’t limited to going to the beach and eating. Every weekend there’s something going on somewhere in Long Island. From the annual Belmont Stakes, Sunday’s at Boardy Barn, or concerts at Jones Beach, my summer never has a dull moment.

10. None of these points would contribute to an amazing summer without the most important reason of all: I have the greatest group of friends to share the summers with.