School has been in session for, oh, three-ish weeks now. I guess you
could say summer is SO over. (even though the amount I am currently
sweating after my walk to campus today would make you think otherwise).
But--and how can I accurately illiterate this--I have been so busy! And I
have not had the change to catch up on the rest of my summer and time
in Nantucket, and the cross-country journey I went on. Thus the purpose
of this post.
Post summer post. about summer. 1..2..3..GO!
Every morning we would get Anna Marie showered. Then we would pretend we were her personal hair dressers/make up artists and we would make her feel so pretty and special while talking in English Accents and asking her about the "town gossip" like good hair dressers and make up artists do. And we would put a pretty dress on her and then present her to her husband at the breakfast table yelling "TA-DUH" and everyone would make a big scene about how beautiful she looked. In a lot of ways, these were the happiest moments of the summer.
I think this photo of our last day at the beach is pretty funny.
See if you can find Anna Marie, because she is there! I promise!
On our last Monday out there, after we went to the beach, was also the last time we had Natalie's delicious cooking, so we set the table on the deck, lit the portable heater, and snuggled in for one of the BEST meals I have ever had (pork tacos and the best salad I have ever had).
And everyone was happy, especially Anna Marie
But it was sad to say goodbye to Nat!
She is seriously the best cook/friend in the whole world!
After that amazing dinner, Cassidy and I had this amazing experience out on the paddle boards in the bay behind the house. Imagine this, a crystal clear night, thousands of stars, and a perfectly calm bay (seriously, perfectly calm water). We were the only ones out there. We probably paddled out half a mile or so, and not only was the bio-luminescence glowing each time we put out paddles in the water, but the stars were perfectly reflected in the black, still water. Then we just laid on our boards and talked liked sisters do. It was so fun and so special. We made Jeff take a few pictures when we got back but nothing could ever perfectly capture a moment like that.
The next morning (our last full day on island) we were given the day off to do all our favorite things one last time. In the morning, we took the boards out again. This time I went all the way up and down Pocomo to the point and back and I saw some pretty cool things, including a sea snake, some gigantic jelly fish, and the most amazing seashells that ended up having cute little crabs in them.
Then we went to find the skate park on the island that Natalie had informed us about the night before. Jeff was only a little upset that he had spent the whole summer wishing there were a skate park just to find out that there was one, so we spent some time there on our last day. Then, when we were nice and hot from that experience, we went out to our favorite beach one last time and swam and played some ball.
Everything is better with these two around
That night we had a really good dinner at a restaurant with some of our dear friends here and we walked around town. I discovered a store that I LOVE that I am mad I did not know about before. (we definitely stopped by it one more time on our way out of town so I could buy a dress) We stayed up pretty late packing up the car and being a little too excited about going home the next day. But when it was the next day and the final blueberry crumble had been bought and it was time to say goodbye, it was a little sad. Even Anna Marie caught on and started crying when we said goodbye. We took off a few hours early so that we could stalk up on stuff at the Stop-n-Shop and run some last minute present buying but then we were on the ferry and on our way back to the west.
This summer was hard. It was stressful and busy and not the vacation I make it sound like. There were so many moments where I wanted to just give up and hide in cave somewhere until I was 73. But looking back, everything was so worth it. I love this family, I love my little girl, and I love that I have the opportunity to have experiences like this. So I hope these are the memories I have forever of this little sandbar out in the middle of the ocean.
Goodbye Nantucket. You are actually a pretty amazing place and I hope, maybe, I will come back someday to say hi again. Maybe. When I have enough money to support your financial demands that is ;)
