More Lost Pictures
the boy
Semi-Lost and Found
It was like finding cash in a coat pocket, but better: old pictures I'd never posted here. These are from 2014 when we spent the week at Deep Creek.
E is now twice the age L was during this vacation.
Tuesday
Our Children
Where did these kids go? How could the relationships between us grow so relatively complicated?
It's my common theme, though I don't always express here why I'm thinking about it...
Return
The Boy is back from camp.
"What do you want to eat?" we ask.
"Anything -- it's all better than camp food."
Especially K's homemade blueberry preserves.
Camp Visit
Camp Departure 2024
The Boy left for camp today. He'll be gone until next Saturday. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Typical parental concerns: on the one hand, I love seeing him grow up, seeing him not only willing but excited about a week away from us. Not that he's excited about being away from us, per se, but rather that he's excited to be going to camp and the prospect of being away from us for a week doesn't worry him or dampen that excitement.
On the other hand, I know how situations like that can stress him out. Or could stress him out. Perhaps he's growing out of it, but I'm not: I'm still stressed about him being gone. Not about him being gone, but not being in the near vicinity to keep an eye on things.
"You can't be there for them all the time. You have to let go." That's the common wisdom. The common parental expectation.
But that doesn't always allay the worries...
Rainy Prep Day
Today we spent most of the day getting E ready for Scout Camp this week. Clothes, rain gear, miscellaneous supplies all packed into a big trunk. He went last year with a different troop because his uncle's family was coming from Poland during the week his troop was scheduled to go. But this year, this year will be great, he assured us. Last year was great, too, but this year...
Once we were done and could do something fun, the rain started...
St. Augustine 2024 Day 1
Morning
The shells on the beach just at the edge of the surf were visible for only a few moments before the white bubbles and turbulence hid them again.
In the brief time I could clearly see them in the shallow water, it was obvious most of the shells were only fragments, often smaller than the smallest coins, slivers well on their way to becoming grains of sand. Every now and then, a shard would catch my eye, and I would think, “I might try to grab that one” just before incoming wave hid them once again.
By then it was too late: once the water cleared up, the tide would have tkane the shard so far away from its original position that finding it was all but impossible. Another might catch my eye, but then the process would simply repeat itself.
To get a shell required calm and patience followed by a paradoxical ability to move quickly when needed. Hesitation meant the loss of the moment. In some ways, that’s a metaphor for live in general for many people. Everything is about getting the right moment, and when that fails, increased stress is the outcome.
Yet the older I get, the more I realize the error in living like that and the unnecessary stress it causes. Yes, I might not get that exact shell that I wanted, but there were plenty of other shells that were just as lovely, often more so.
Evening
In the evening, after we'd spent a few hours back at the Airbnb, after we'd spent some time downtown and had dinner, we headed back to the beach.
I took a few pictures:
and the Boy took a few pictures:
A short walk to end a lovely day.
And we got home, and I saw the fantastic news from the Tour de France: Mark Cavendish got his record-breaking 35th stage win, assuring him the historic title "The Greatest Sprinter of All Time!"
Almost as enjoyable as watching the win itself was seeing the other riders' reaction to the amazing win.
Previous First Day
St. Petersburg Day 2
