Dear OCMD,

I can’t think of a more perfect vacation spot than you. I love your sunny skies and sandy beaches. I love your 2.5-mile boardwalk and all the food places on it. I love your arcades and amusement parks. I love your balcony views and budget prices. I even love the road trip it takes to get to you, knowing that in a few hours I’d be in paradise.

My friends and I have so many memories with you. I’ll never forget seeing the view of the entire city for the first time as I crossed the bay with my best friend. I’ll never forget the late night beach volleyball games and hours spent walking the boardwalk. Just sitting on our apartment porch and talking all night is something special.

Sometimes your beach is crowded, but there’s always a spot on the sand open just for me. I would lay there under an umbrella all day, but I hear your perfectly breaking waves calling my name. I would spend hours in the ocean if jumping over massive waves from party boat wakes wasn’t exhausting.

You teach me life lessons. I’m in charge of booking the vacation and managing the expenses for my friend group every year. I’ve become more independent and responsible. I also hate phone calls a little less. You taught me never to leave the beach house without sunscreen. The freckles on my back and shoulders are constant reminders of what your blazing sun can do in two hours.

I’ve seen many different sides of you. Usually, the weather is perfect, but occasionally you thunderstorm. The tide of the stormy Atlantic rises up as if it’s attacking the shoreline, but you know how to fight it off quickly. Bad weather doesn’t last long in Ocean City.

I miss you. I miss your T-shirt shops and henna tattoo stations. I miss Boardwalk Fries and the Fractured Prune. I miss Dumser’s Dairyland and Jolly Roger at the Pier. I miss Pizza Mambo and the Bad Ass Café. I especially miss seeing a Candy Kitchen on almost every street.

I appreciate every public service you provide, and the men and women working to keep Ocean City beautiful. I appreciate the bike cops trying to keep order when senior week students are disrespectful.

The anticipation of a vacation can be agonizing, especially when I book it months in advance. But the wait only makes it sweeter when I finally cross the bridge and cruise down your coastal highway.

One day, if your market for journalists and/or broadcasters allows, I hope to live with you forever. Living in Ocean City would be a never-ending vacation. I would have to keep my beach body at all times, which seems hard with delicious food around every corner, but I think I could manage.

You’re not just a vacation spot; you’re a second home. I don’t see you very much, but in my head, we’re together all the time. Although we’re apart for 51 weeks of the year, the seven days we have together are special.

I’ll see you in June.