Everyone dreams of being able to spend their summers at the beach. Being able to live with an ocean or bay view every day for four months ... I was lucky to enough to experience this for the past few years, and it has been an experience I will forever cherish. Here is an open letter to my beach friends, who have made living at the beach even better than I could have ever imagined.
I did not grow up as the typical "beach kid" and spend every summer of my childhood on the beach, but I have experienced it at one point in my life, and it has been a very rewarding experience. Even if you just spent one summer at the beach, you would understand what I am talking about.
Beach friends are much different then your high school friends, your college friends or your sorority friends. They are the friends that spend almost every day together for four months, whether it be at work, the beach or at a party, they are always with you. They share the same love for salty hair and tan skin, they would rather burn their feet then have to wear shoes and they will never say no to a late night bike ride.
Thank you to my beach friends for always making sure I am happy. For the times that I am sad, thank you for making sure I am thrown into the ocean or forced to go out. Thank you for spending all day on the beach with me even when we are burnt and dehydrated, but are just too lazy to walk up that huge sand hill.
But most of all, thank you for accepting me into your friend group when you had already had a tight bond from years of growing up together. Thank you for teaching me the local lingo, the norms of beach living and being the most sarcastically supportive people when I embarrass you for doing something a tourist would do after being a tourist for too long. From explaining what the differences are between 'beach' and 'shore' to explaining how to transition from a tourist to a local, everything you have done for me to make me feel welcomed, and I am grateful for it.
If you ever get the chance to spend just one summer at the beach, have a summer job with your best friends or be able to get out of your comfort zone in a new area, do it. Don't let the opportunity be missed. It is a life changing experience with friends who you will eventually not understand how you ever lived without. Beach friends are a different kind of friend group, and I value them more than I ever imagined I would when I first met them. They are true homies for life, even if I haven't known them my whole life. Thank you.
