Last summer I had the amazing opportunity to work in a surf shop. It was a local known name shop called Heritage Surf and Sport Shop. The stores main location is in Ocean City, NJ, but they also have three other locations off the island that aren't that far of a distance. I was able to work there all summer because my dad has a beach house there. Now, you might think that I am some stuck up rich girl who has a beach house. I mean how many people can say that. However, that isn't the case here. My family has been going to Ocean City, NJ for many years. I am the third generation to have "grown up" on the island. My grandparents have a house there, so that is how I was introduced to the island when I was 6 years old. My dad and stepmom, for a hobby, use to buy old, rundown houses and fix them or or flip them to then put them back on the market and sell them again. They decided that since we go to Ocean City so much that they should flip a house there. So, thats exactly what they did. They bought a house a few blocks down the road from my grandparents house and started fixing it from the ground up. It was a very strenuous process since the house was in such awful condition. When they were done with the house they put it on the market to be sold again. A few months after putting it on the market, of course, the market crashed. So, my dad and stepmom took the house off the market because they knew it was going to just sit there. They decided that for the time being they wanted to keep it and when the economy got a little better to put it mack on the market. Well, with keeping it for a couple of weeks, they decided to keep it for good. 

     So here we are 10 years later still in the same house every summer. Which leads me back to working at Heritage for the summer. I got to meet and work with some amazing people and get free surf lessons and get discounts on a bunch of name brand surf company clothes lines. Lets say that it was a job that people would die for. No dress code, flexible work hours, discounts on discounts, and so much more. It opened up many doors for me on the island. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime. 

     Ocean City is my safe haven and my second home. From the countless family and friends there and the many memories that have come from Morningside Beach, boardwalk, and endless summer nights. It is always hard to try to explain to people how we ended up in Ocean City, all of the family and friends we know there, and how important it is to my life. Yes, I might sound like some rich prissy girl, but that's not who I am. My family is far from being on the wealthy side of society. We were fortunate and lucky enough to practically be handed this house and handed this experience. To end, one of the best things to have come out of going to Ocean City all of these years is meeting one of my very best friends, Caitlin. I'll go more into our friendship later.... 

In picture: Zander (6), Kai (9), me, and Alek (21)