We was like peas and carrots.

A have one particular childhood memory that sticks out beyond the rest. I spent the first ten years of my life living just outside of Washington, D.C. From the time I was in diapers until I was about nine, my mom would bring me and my brother David (he was born when I was five) to Ocean City, Maryland, for one week each summer. Mom’s best friend Karen and her two kids, Geoff and Brice, would come with us. (The dads would stay at home.) We would always stay in a high-rise condo, with a pool, right on the beach.

Geoff was a year older than me, and his brother was a year older than my brother. It was the perfect vacation. We would spend the days on the beach and by the pool. At night, we would go down to the boardwalk. We would ride the little carnival rides and play ski ball until our arms were sore. We would get these huge buckets of fries with vinegar and salt all over them (best ever). We’d chase the salt with cotton candy and soft-serve ice cream cones.

For the first few years, it was only my mom, Karen, Geoff, and me because the brothers hadn’t been born yet. To quote Forrest Gump, Geoff and I ”was like peas and carrots.” He was my first best friend and I just knew I would marry him one day.

Looking back, it’s understandable why those week-long summer vacations were so special. My parents fought a lot in the years leading up to their divorce. The time spent in Ocean City was my sanctuary, my place of security and good times. If anything, Geoff was like a brother to me. Our friendship represented the collection of happy childhood memories and didn’t include any of the broken family drama.

When my parents divorced, we all left the D.C. area. The friendship between my mom and Karen quickly fizzled and the Ocean City trips came to an end. Because I was a child, I went on with life and didn’t think about those days very often.

Once I had kids of my own, I started recalling those trips to Ocean City. Clinging to the memories so dear to me, I desperately looked for Geoff. I don’t know why that link to my past was, or is, so important to me. It’s been 20 years since we last hung out! Sometimes I’ve wondered if his memories are as special to him as they are to me.

Yesterday I started thinking about Ocean City and, on a whim, did a search for Geoff on Facebook. To my surprise, I found him! I quickly sent him a friend request and then refreshed my page about 100 times over the next two hours to see if he had accepted it. Finally, he did. I immediately searched his profile, found his phone number, and called him. Oh, the sweetness of his voice. It was like finding the brother that had been lost. He’s married, their son is 2, their daughter is 2 weeks, they live in North Carolina. There’s so much more I want to know! I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or cry or both. God, if I could just go back to that beach, to that time, for one more week…