Last week, Nicole and I celebrated five married years with a weekend away. It wasn’t a luxurious trip to an island or a weekend at a spa. Instead, we got to spend it with some of our closest friends as I was a groomsman in my friend Jeff’s wedding.
The weekend was a blast, especially since we got to enjoy it sans children. Hey, we love our kids, but every now and then parents need a break and need to spend time with other adults. Even the car rides to and from the hotel were glorious, as we were not bombarded with hundreds of questions.
Not long after our five-year anniversary as a married couple, Nicole and I celebrated 12 years together on Wednesday, July 1.
As some of you might have seen in her Facebook post, Nicole and I took Spanish class together at Holy Cross our junior year. I offered to drive her to the shore that Memorial Day weekend, saying my brother and I were headed down right after school let out that Friday. She declined, saying she was going down with her family, but thanked me.
The two of us started hanging out early that summer after I would get done working at Walker’s South Beach Grille in Ocean City. She was affectionately known to most of my family as ‘Nick,’ hiding from my grandfather the fact that I was hanging out with a girl every night.
We went on our first official date on July 1, 2003. We grabbed a pie at Primo’s Pizza on the boardwalk then headed for my place of employment for some soft-serve ice cream.
Each year, for the past 11 years, we have had Primo’s Pizza on July 1. Even if we were not already in OC, we would make it a point to head down to the island either prior to July 1 or on the date to grab a pie from our favorite pizza place in America’s Greatest Family Resort.
It really does feel like yesterday that Nicole and I first got together, but having two children tells me different. With Tony now three and Enzo closing in on his first birthday, time really does fly.
For the past two visits to Primo’s on July 1, Tony has been with us. This year, we were able to add Enzo to the mix, even though he slept most of the time we were there yesterday.
There was always a reason I loved Ocean City growing up, but I never knew what it was as a child/teenager. Was it the beach? Was it the boardwalk? Was it the sound of the seagulls waking me up in the morning? Was it the fresh air? Was it all of those features combined? All of those are excellent reasons to love Ocean City, but I discovered at the age of 17 why I really love OC; the fact that even though we went to school together, I found the love of my life in our own “City by the Sea.”
Now, with two boys, we continue to enjoy all that Ocean City has to offer. It is hard to believe that we have gone from dating in OC to engaged in OC to married in OC to being parents in OC in a span of 12 years. It has been an up-and-down 12 years that I would not want to spend with anyone else.
