In our first visit to Ocean City this week, Tony decided to be the welcoming party for little brother Enzo as we arrived on the island.
This car ride was definitely different. It was the first lengthy ride that Tony did not sleep during for its entirety, or at least most of it. He was wide awake from the minute we pulled out of the driveway to the minute we pulled up in front of the house in O.C.
On the other side of the backseat, Enzo barely made a sound en route to our destination. We hit some traffic on Route 73 through Marlton and Berlin and then again coming over the 9th St. Bridge heading onto the island because it was a beautiful day.
This is when Tony really became impatient. He whined and moaned and asked a ton of questions.
“Where is the boardwalk?”
“Where is the water tower?”
“Why aren’t we moving?”
“Can I go walk on boardwalk?”
As we sat on the 9th St. Bridge, for at least 25 minutes, Tony started getting antsy, wondering if we could take Enzo to the beach. We explained to him that we needed to unload the cars and unpack the luggage before we do anything.
We also told Tony that he needed to take a nap and relax for the afternoon following a busy morning.
As we finally came over the bridge and onto the island, Tony began getting even more excited that he was back at the shore.
We were making our way towards the house, driving on West Ave., and Tony decided to turn into a welcoming committee for his little brother.
“Welcome to Ocean City, Enzo. This is my favorite place.”
Those were the words we were waiting to hear for a long time. Ocean City was my favorite place as a child and it still is to this day. It was my wife’s favorite place as a child and it still is to this day.
Now, we can add Tony to the list and hopefully Enzo in the very near future.
We couldn’t get over Tony’s welcome comments to his little brother, and his sheer excitement for returning to the island, which has become a favorite topic of conversation for Tony over the past couple of weeks.
The two-plus weeks we were home waiting for Enzo to come were torture for Tony. All he could talk about was going to the beach, doing the rides on the boardwalk and using his boogie board in the ocean.
