Cape Week Lives! Sunday musings…1/24/2021
Sunday musings…1/245/21
1 Grey. Color of the Cleveland sky from October 1st through May Day.
2 Vaccine. Got shot #2 on Thursday. Felt pretty punk for a day or so. Now?
Hopeful. I feel hopeful.
3 Electric. As in electric car. Why are the ones that are affordable so darn fugly and the ones that are even a little bit pretty so darned expensive? Or uncomfortable. The front seats of a Tesla have the same specs as the benches in the stands at any high school stadium anywhere.
‘Splain me that Elon.
4 Mirror. I made the mistake of taking a look in the mirror this morning. There’s nothing really special about this particular morning since I have to peer at present day self while shaving pretty much every day. Today, though, I happened to also look at pictures of myself from 5 or 6 years ago. Pictures taken when I was very happy to be sure, but still, the “picture” gazing back at me in the mirror this morning was striking.
That guy really got old over the last 5 or so years.
I did a tiny thing this morning.
Beth: “That was nice.”
Me: “I’m a nice guy!”
Beth: “That’s why I married you!”
Me: “I thought you married me for my cute butt, and now that’s pretty much gone.”
Beth: “Hmmm…right. Good thing you’re nice.”
Me: “Funny girl. That’s why I married you ;-)”
Old, apparently aging rapidly, but still happy.
5 Cape. Cape Week lives! 28 consecutive years of our annual family gathering on the beach fell to the Pandemic last year. Last night my siblings and I all gave the thumbs up to resume our annual gathering. To our great relief my brother took over the admin duties from my Mom. Understand, she was never meant to have them in the first place. My sister Tracey handled stuff for a few years in the early days before Mom muscled in.
Who is going to be there? I don’t think it really matters to be honest. Everyone is invited from every generation. Well, every human that is. As always, dogs are not on the guest list. We are clearly all going under the assumption that everyone will have had their second shots (or a single blast from J&J) by then (my brother has the world’s tightest bubble going on at the moment). Once there we never really go anywhere other than the grocery store and perhaps Sundae School for ice cream. The beach is private so it comes with built-in crowd control.
To be quite honest I was very pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm on our little family text thread last night when my brother confirmed our reservation. After a year off it would have been pretty easy to just let Cape Week drift off into the netherworld of family lore, living on in our hearts but no longer in our calendars. It was really more than a little exciting to be having that little side conversation. Now we are all in that rather blissful stage where our anticipation and joy pretty much overshadows anything else.
Like, you know, will we still have a matriarch to fuss over? If so, how do we get her across the street and onto the beach? Can any of the cousins make it? Where will they all stay? Will anyone have to work while they are there? Oy…bandwidth…
But those are questions for another time. Not for today. Nope, today is for letting the glow of hope flow over our family. Today is for giving Gram her calendar goal. A little flag on the horizon to march toward. Today is for all three generations to look back over our 28 years of memories and be warmed by them like we are by the noontime sun on the beach. To scour our closets for folding chairs and bocce balls. A day of reminiscing as we sit with photo albums filled with pictures of babies on the beach, my Mom and Dad young and healthy, beaming, happy. Pictures of me with a butt!
For today, at least, Cape Week lives.
I’ll see you next week…
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