End of Summer Dilemma
I keep wavering on how I feel about leaving town for Labor Day Weekend. Husband says it is my decision and I feel like I just wish we could do both. Should we stay or should we go?
On one hand, we were thinking of heading to visit relatives in Illinois. My favorite cousin and her wonderful family including Baby Luke, Jff's Aunt and Uncle and their twins, my two aunts, and my grandma who is very sick. It is wonderful to see family, especially the people who I wish lived closer, and the people who we both dearly love.
Plus Illinois in the summer is something that has a strong reminder of childhood for both husband and I. Since our parents grew up there, fairly close to each other in fact, we spent countless times as kids visiting in the summer. The humidity, the Cicadas singing, the yellow gravel, the smell that is purely, well, Illinois. We both revel in it while there. It is nice to share that very nostalgic experience with husband.
There is also the pull of my "grandpa's bushes". These are a row of bushes in the back and front of the house that need trimming ever year. I used to do it for him every August when I journeyed south to return to college. (For some reason I am really good at hedge trimming, abnormally good at it- it has always made me wonder if I would be good at cutting hair?) Anyways, every year he would stand at the window and watch me, occasionally asking me to hold up my hands to show that all ten fingers were still attached. It is a ritual that I have tried to keep up since he died six years ago. It is my chance to talk with him.
Finally, there would be the chance to return briefly to my college stomping grounds. Klick has been posting pictures of my alma mater recently and it has stirred by desire to go back and walk along the lake shore path before the leaves change and to have a beer on the terrace before sitting next to the lake requires a jacket, plus to see my freshman year dorm before they completely destroy it.
After I have written it all out here, it doesn't seem like much of a competition. Other than feeling like we have been incredibly busy, I have a twenty pager to write before fall classes start next week, and that it would just have to be a quick weekend trip with a lot of driving I feel like we should go anyways. But will it just turn into a drag? Ugh. Strange how life can get complicated and full of these hard decisions.
On one hand, we were thinking of heading to visit relatives in Illinois. My favorite cousin and her wonderful family including Baby Luke, Jff's Aunt and Uncle and their twins, my two aunts, and my grandma who is very sick. It is wonderful to see family, especially the people who I wish lived closer, and the people who we both dearly love.
Plus Illinois in the summer is something that has a strong reminder of childhood for both husband and I. Since our parents grew up there, fairly close to each other in fact, we spent countless times as kids visiting in the summer. The humidity, the Cicadas singing, the yellow gravel, the smell that is purely, well, Illinois. We both revel in it while there. It is nice to share that very nostalgic experience with husband.
There is also the pull of my "grandpa's bushes". These are a row of bushes in the back and front of the house that need trimming ever year. I used to do it for him every August when I journeyed south to return to college. (For some reason I am really good at hedge trimming, abnormally good at it- it has always made me wonder if I would be good at cutting hair?) Anyways, every year he would stand at the window and watch me, occasionally asking me to hold up my hands to show that all ten fingers were still attached. It is a ritual that I have tried to keep up since he died six years ago. It is my chance to talk with him.
Finally, there would be the chance to return briefly to my college stomping grounds. Klick has been posting pictures of my alma mater recently and it has stirred by desire to go back and walk along the lake shore path before the leaves change and to have a beer on the terrace before sitting next to the lake requires a jacket, plus to see my freshman year dorm before they completely destroy it.
After I have written it all out here, it doesn't seem like much of a competition. Other than feeling like we have been incredibly busy, I have a twenty pager to write before fall classes start next week, and that it would just have to be a quick weekend trip with a lot of driving I feel like we should go anyways. But will it just turn into a drag? Ugh. Strange how life can get complicated and full of these hard decisions.
posted by KLOU | 8:56 AM
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