Life sure likes to surprise you. Like December 7th: surprise! Here is a boyfriend for you. Or December 25th: surprise! here is a week long rafting trip that will change your life. Or July 2nd: surprise! you are going to nantucket to work for the rest of the summer.
wait. what?
July 17th I spent the day on airplanes and eating overpriced and overrated airport food to travel across the country to Nantucket, Massachusetts where the family that my sister and I have worked for since November have hired us to come out and keep working for them for the summer.
I have a pending post about Anna Marie--I'm just never sure what I'm allowed to say on the internet--who happens to be the lady I am working for. Ok, well technically her husband hired us but he hired us to help her. I may or may not call her AM for short. She is the cutest most distinguished and accomplished woman I know. She speaks several languages, has traveled all around the world (literally!!!), and has the most incredible stories. She has met everyone, seen everything, and eaten more delicious food than anyone in the world. And in November my sister and I were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for this incredible opportunity to come into our lives. You see, this wonderful woman found herself in a tricky predicament a few years ago when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. My sister and I were originally hired to come up to their house twice a week to "tutor" her--reading, writing, playing memory games, matching, etc. But it ended up becoming hours of hearing her stories, putting the pieces of her life back together, helping her remember names and places and faces, and becoming best friends. We would tell secrets (she is a great secret keeper), and paint pictures, and she has taught us quite a bit of Dutch, Afrikaans, and Greek. I'm amazed by the life she has lived and the things she has seen and been through. But maybe one day I will publish that pending post that goes on about the miracles I have seen and learned from this amazing woman.
My point now is that 11 days ago I found myself on the little island of Nantucket. I have eaten more food and heard more crazy stories in the last 11 days than ever before in my life. I have consumed more blueberry pie, been exposed to more alcohol, and helped AM try on more dresses than I ever thought was possible. There have been hard days and easy days, happy moments and sad moments, good times and bad times. And I swear I have been here a million years instead of just 11 days. Originally my sister came out with me but she flew home to be in a wedding this weekend and that is why I am finally forcing myself to find a corner of our guest apartment with enough wifi from the main house to write this post. I am lonely out here by myself and I am homesick. I am learning that I could never live on an island--there just aren't enough places to go to keep you from feeling trapped. And I am getting pretty tired of eating out. I'm just not a sea food person and all there is to eat is seafood. Best seafood in the world. Apparently. I'm not buying.
Ok but really, I am not going to complain anymore than that because I realize how lucky I am. This is an INCREDIBLE opportunity. I feel like I am growing up. My comfort zone has definitely been taken to its limits and beyond. And I am falling more in love with Anna Marie everyday. I guess that happens with the people you serve.
So here are a few snapshots of the adventure I am having in the opposite corner of the country from home. Hopefully I start taking a lot more now that I have a memory card for my camera and Cassidy is coming back in two days.
14 days until I get to go home myself for a few days. then it's back to the east coast until school starts. that's ok. I'm learning a lot here :)
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| my first "exquisite" meal here |
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| lobster bisque!! |
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| the lefthand view from the beach deck |
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| the backhand view from the beach deck |
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| the righthand view from the beach deck |
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| their beach |
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| morning walks along the beach |
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| total of all the places to go here |
At the beach our first day. They had some grandchildren staying with them then so we tagged along on all their adventures for a few days--going to the beach, playing tennis on their private court, and exploring the town. I wish they could have stayed longer. We had a lot of fun with them!
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| The family when we first got here there were a lot of us. |
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| Their house. We are staying in a private apartment over their garage which you cannot see in this picture. |
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| the mirror over my bed and a tribute to home. |
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| sissy and I being sissy and I |
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| trying to be healthy by going for runs down the beach. |
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| a cool little corner of nantucket I spent a few hours exploring the other day down by the docks. |
This has been a good experience for me. It really has! And I hope to say a lot more about it as time goes on. That is, if time goes on. Here on this old, colonial, and semi-haunted island whose architecture and entertainment sources are still blasts from the past (and not the 80's past but like hundreds of years ago past) it seems like time goes backwards, not forwards. Which is hard for "little girls" (as the family calls us), especially when significant others are waiting back home and there is barely enough service here to get a text through. (we have found a few prime spots in our apartment where we can get a call out if we place our phones perfectly and don't move!)
Until next time! I'm going to go find the man from Nantucket now... I keep hearing about him and I am determined to find him!
-C
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