Look at that! I can not wait to go back up this Friday. This is our neighbor's hydrangea. Can you believe the color! The kids cracked up as I stopped on the way to the beach to snap this photo. The hydrangea at my Dad's place are not mature yet, but they are coming along.




It will be strange to be all by myself up there without the kids for a week. I return there Friday and will be there for a week for my class. I don't think I've ever had that much time alone in my life! I'll be up through the following Friday. It should be interesting.

Hopefully the class will be a breeze and I can enjoy a little freedom here in this wonderful vacation home that my parents worked so hard to create. I wish Mom could be here with us to enjoy it all. I always wish that, but at least it is not quite as horrible now when I'm wishing. I know she would have come up to be with me next week for my class. We would have taken day trips after class got out each day. When I see things that remind me of her it is a happy feeling vs. a sad one. I guess that is how it is for people when they lose someone so close. I'm learning a lot from this. I am a much more empathetic person now that I know what sickness and loss are.

Anyway... the nice thing is that my Dad is thinking of joining me for a few days up there. We never have had time alone to hang out without kids under foot. It will be nice if he can join me. There is something magical about being in this beautiful home that my Mom and Dad made. They took an old house and revamped and added to it. It is beautiful and a huge blessing. Mom didn't have time to put as many pictures on the walls as you would like to see. Maybe I can get Dad to go shopping. We need a little more art to fill the empty spaces on the walls. We need to make more happy memories to fill some of the empty that Mom left behind. Going there with my kids does that for me. More happy memories and less focus on the unfulfilled expectations of time with my Mom.

Doing fun things and making happy memories is what summer is all about!