I had an idea for a post I was going to share which would have been a tribute to being married for 21 years, as well as recount our wonderful time away in Portland and Camden, Maine. I was going to mention how amazing it was to be blessed with better weather than anticipated and how we got to choose when we woke up and where we would eat and what activity we wanted and none of it was dictated by parental duties. I wanted to wax poetic about revisiting our wedding locale, still finding it beautiful and special, and wandering coastal towns with the smell of salt on the breeze and boats of all shapes and sizes coloring the marina in nautical uniqueness. I thought of telling of the hundreds of thousands of steps we walked, up and down uneven brick walkways, in and out of brick buildings, within which were gorgeous paintings, homemade gifts, and one-of-a-kind antiques, purchasing commemorative trinkets from one store and refreshing ice cream from another. I had wanted to describe eating delicious food from hole-in-the-wall restaurants’ patios and chatting about everything and nothing without interruption. I was going to chronicle the growth in our marriage, expressing the ways in which Danny is the better half in this duo and what I’ve learned over the last two decades and a bit. 

However, I feel 1000% confident that you all will find what I am going to share with you instead far more exciting and worthwhile to read. Below is a text exchange I had with Jake while Danny and I were away for a couple of days this past week.

Jake: Umm, another update, there is a snake loose in the house

          Anna put one in her cage thing and it escaped earlier

          So yeah, there’s that

Me:    I’m not coming home until it’s found.

The next day….

Me:    Is there still a snake in my house?

After a phone call with Jake, who said he thought the kids found the snake…

Jake: Nvm, it’s still loose

Me:   Can they see the snake behind the desk? They know for certain that’s where

          it is?

Jake:  That’s where it was yesterday. But it had all night to get….anywhere

         Even…. upstairs…under a bed

You guys. There’s a snake. In my house. I’m not sure how much longer I can live here. I used to be just like you, not ever being able to correlate a memory of an anniversary with a snake. I miss those days. You can be sure this one won’t be forgotten any time soon! 🐍

“When the cat’s away, the mice will play,” as the saying goes and we sure did ‘play’ while the teens were gone last weekend! I’m sure they thought they were the ones having fun and enjoying a get-away, but joke’s on them because we thoroughly loved the quieter conditions in which we found ourselves. Having just the three youngest at home made certain adventures more doable than if our whole crew was around. It should go without saying that, as a mother, I will always love having all of my offspring under the same roof as much as possible, but only when I also have duct tape and zip ties on hand. Just wishing, I mean, kidding! Just KIDDING.

It all started with a BBQ supper Danny cooked up for us, the first of the season as there was finally a break in the rainy weather. Thanks to a Dairy Queen gift card Caleb received, we had the perfect excuse to go out for dessert. While the three kids worked off the sugar rush running up and down the hill behind the restaurant, Danny and I were able to talk uninterrupted for at least fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds, which was especially wonderful because he’s had to travel so much recently that getting in quality conversation has been pretty tough. 

The next evening the kids convinced (read: begged) us that a round of mini-golf and Go-Karting would be the best way to spend many of our dollars. The weather behaved, the kids mostly behaved, but the golf balls and courses most certainly did not! Whoever engineered the course needs a course in engineering. Those of us with even a small bit of talent saw our balls roll into corners crowded with everyone else’s balls and skip over the edges of the holes when we all knew they’d ordinarily have gone in, but fun was definitely had. Surprisingly, I won, but Danny got to hold the winning hand. 🙂 👫

Go-karting was short but definitely sweet. While Anna has enjoyed this activity in the past and remembers it, this was the first time she was tall enough to drive a car alone. James had also been a passenger before but did not remember the ride, and Caleb had never had the privilege in any capacity. Since James did not come in first, or second, or third, or second to last in mini-golf, we decided he should ride with Danny, considerably upping his chances of winning the race. Caleb would go with me, and Anna would experience a solo initiation to the world of driving. 

The light turned green and we were off—to a crawl. Caleb’s nerves got the best of him as he shouted for me to “slow down, slow down!” We were left in the proverbial dust as all the other cars whizzed around us, then lapped us. Like all good drivers should, I gave Caleb my phone so he could take photos or videos as we looped around the course at a staggering speed of five miles an hour. And I’m so glad I did. Because it’s the law, you guys. But also because the pictures in my phone are now some of my most treasured photos. I hope you enjoy the following photos taken by my seven year old as much as I do:

Since we’ve had more rainy days than not recently, entertaining the idea of going outside for an excursion on July 4 was more laboriously discussed this year, but I’m so glad we decided to go ahead and spend the day out. It was a warm, if not muggy, day and the sun played hide-and-seek for most of it. 

Though it means a lot of work for Danny, going on the boat is quickly becoming one of my most favorite pastimes. And though it’s not really meant to function as a family boat, we revel in being together on it. This day was no exception. I’m not sure I can properly describe the way the sky and water matched each other in their striations of shady blues and tarnished silver or how the straight line of the horizon was the only solid shape amidst the blurriness of the air above us and the smooth, dark carpet of liquid beneath us, but suffice it to say, it was so calm, so beautiful, and so invigorating.

(Pictures DO NOT do justice to the beauty.) 

The kids relished every seal sighting and I savored every squeal of delight, the wind in my hair, the peacefulness of cruising on open ocean without another vessel in sight, and my husband’s patience and selflessness in facilitating this opportunity for us. Something about being out on the water makes one happily exhausted and we were all in bed before the fireworks could light up the darkening sky. 

As another saying goes, “All good things must come to an end” and with the arrival of our teens, it did. It was back to the daily grind, but after such a refreshing weekend, my spirit was buoyed and these precious moments are now cherished memories.