Each year gets better. It may have something to do with the age and independence of our children. It may also have something to do with us truly relaxing. No cooking, very little cleaning, and one load of laundry relaxing. Great weather, fish tacos, books, and chess tourneys help too. The kids rode boogey boards, helped mama look for cool shells, and built sand forts. We saw clams reburrowing after every wave and ghost crabs sidestepping through the sand. It is peculiar to see shells move. I visited my favorite shops - Duck's Cottage for books and coffee; Urban Cottage for unique furniture and home goods; and Life's a Beach - the Lilly Pulitzer/Vineyard Vines shop. Duck's Cottage hosts a variety of book clubs and has a great section devoted to all the monthly choices.We squeaked into We Scream Ice Cream on it's last night of the season and discovered new to us favorite eats - Bad Bean Taqueria. I really could eat Mexi every night. Margaritas don't hurt either. The littles raced in jr. go karts, and yes it is alarming to see your 4 year old driving alone.
We had a great waiter that managed to use every bit of surfer lingo in the course of serving us, as in "y'all killed it" - trans. we cleaned our plates. And of course, I spent a good portion of free time scheming and dreaming about buying a beach house.
Yes, I read a few books - finishing The Gargoyle, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Speak, and No One You Know. More on those later.
I highly recommend the off season. It is worth pulling the kids out of school. And yes, I know some schools frown upon the removal of children from the classroom - but the last time I checked they were your kids, not theirs. And unless your children are in high school, their grades have no bearing on college admission. That's all I'll say about that.
But this is me today:
crabby.
The return to real life hit with maximum force - I drove the am carpool and have lots of homework supervision to look forward to. There are piles and piles of unpacking along with restocking groceries and various other suburban errands. The immediate effect of vacation is a desire to purge massive amounts of junk when I get home. We lived with the bare minimum for a week and I'm confident we do not require 70-80 percent of the stuff we have. But that will have to wait until I muddle through the current baggage. So, I'll leave you with this:
The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. - Isak Dinesen
The End.
