August and Everything After
We rented this 1969 Mercury Cougar to drive around Martha’s Vineyard for the day.
Every summer when the kids were small, we would venture out to Cape Cod for a two-week vacation. Their pre-school would close for 2 weeks in August which was the perfect time to get away. We would camp at the Shawme Crowell State Forest in Sandwich, Massachusetts, in our tent from Target. I had 2 large plastic storage totes which contained sleeping bags, an air mattress, a small propane stove and all of the required cookware to make our camping experience complete. We would load up the minivan and drive before dawn from Cleveland to the Cape, about 12 hours, arriving in time to set up camp, start a fire and cook dinner before dark. Of course we entertained ourselves with s’mores, catching fireflies, and an occasional trip to the ice cream shop in town. Once the kids were asleep, Ed and I would break out a bottle of tawny port and sip from coffee cups in our webbed folding chairs.
Mornings meant a coffee pot on the fire and “dirty” eggs, which were simply scrambled eggs in bacon fat. Days were spent on Sandy Neck beach and visiting the various “off the beaten path” spots we came to love. There was a small family farm who sold corn on the cob at the end of their drive, honor system. Just help yourself and leave the money in the box. Joe’s Seafood Market sold lobsters for $2.99 a pound. A small shop made and sold jams. I would buy the jalapeño jam and use it as a glaze over fresh fish, still one of Ed’s favorite food memories. One excursion during each visit was to take the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We once rented a vintage convertible and drove around for the day. Those trips were relaxing, low key and low tech. I remember the feeling of stress literally unwinding as I walked on the beach.
This year, travel is not in our plans as with many. But having the opportunity to WFH, start this new venture, which will be 6 months old soon, and enjoy what’s coming has brought a bright spot to an otherwise dim year.
August was a turning point, a realization that things will not be what they were before. And we are discovering that perhaps a lot of what we believed was necessary isn’t really needed at all. I think of so many families who now are “forced” into spending time together, with virtual school, work from home and furloughs, might have gone on with their previous day-to-day and not made time together a priority. It’s given us a new perspective. Hopefully we see that there was a lot we overlooked and can now make time to do more often. I wonder how many of us will go back to what we once considered normal?
