Friday 27 August 2010

this vacation

Was a hoot.

After spending a few days with my parents in New York (and watching both my fearless five year old and my mmmmph-old father go down an incredibly high water slide and come out smiling (and go again) and going back to Michigan and seeing my stepfather and gathering up reminders and momentos of my mothers life, we drove (and drove and drove) through some very gorgeous parts of Canada to get back

and now I have more laundry than God and a house that's really too small to hold the big stately old furniture that I brought back with me.

We went through Audrey's beloved Maine - green and blue, with overcast clouds and a full-on fast drizzle not dimming the enthusiasm of the canoeists and kayakers. No wonder that state inspires such loyalty - despite having faces full of rain and wind, the people I saw still looked as through they'd rather be there than anywhere else.

This trip was wistful for more than a few reasons - I took my family to the house where my mother lived and died (I kept expecting to turn around and see her, and the ghost of her laughter lingered in the air) and this is assuredly the last trip we will be able to convince Rosey that farms with hay-rolls sunning themselves in the fields are marshmallow factories.

Another Rosey-note: R was convinced she had a seagull friend that was following us. From Lake Canandaigua to Lake Huron, from Port Huron to Toronto, we always seemed to have at least one seagull swooping and wheeling in the far-flung sky. We giggled about it privately, but hey - who could tell?

Cass discovered the joys of flinging sticks into the woods and chasing frisbees with dogs, stories on i-pods and the fine art of insulting your sibling until tears flood the car. (sigh.) He also discovered the fine taste of fresh raspberries, KFC mashed potatoes*, and a tall frosty glass of (glurk) diet vanilla root beer. (No, not together.)

B drove the whole way, consoled and diverted and ran interference for me when I needed a time-out, and was my shoulder to cry on. And he didn't complain - not once - about spending his vacation in a car with two (sometimes) whinging offspring, or piloting a car and trailer through high-speed city traffic.

It amazes me how you can leave your home, come back in two weeks, and how everything looks different. Not shabbier, or alien, but spaces seem elongated somehow and shadows seem wrong. Did the trip home always seem so long? Was that empty lot always there?

But the remembered wonderfulness of your bed, with your pillows and your blankets? Doesn't change.
Yawn.


*In Canada, Kentucky Fried Chicken doesn't serve mashed potatoes. It's all fries.

7 comments:

Jen on the Edge said...

I know what you mean about home seeming a bit unfamiliar.

Welcome back.

MsCellania said...

Aw, I bet this trip was tender and tough for you, all at once.
It is HARD to collect up your childhood into a trailer and haul it home. Really, really hard. I'm glad you had your family with you to soften the blow.

Mummy Dearest said...

Sounds like a whirlwind vacation! We just got back from 2 weeks away too... and after having camped most of that time, I think I cried when I saw my own bed!

Anonymous said...

Actually, you just need to head a little more East in Canada to find KFC mashed potatoes! Trust me, Nova Scotia has them.

:)

Unknown said...

Welcome home, you'll certainly find your way around again soon.

No mashed potatoes??? That is CRAZY!

Magpie said...

And we just spent two weeks in Canada, where there were fries with EVERYTHING.

Coming home was a great joy, even though the trip was awesome.

Audrey at Barking Mad said...

See, even when it is pouring and miserable in Maine, there really is no where else a Maine-ah wants to be. *lol*

Vacations, when mixed with the bittersweet of having to to do something like you did, is always a bit hard. But you seem to have accomplished it with a grace that I could only wish to have.

And you're right, there is nothing like coming back home again, especially to ones own bed and pillow! *sigh*

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