Monday, August 30, 2010

Wrapping up good old Cee Tee

I don't know how many more stories I'll tell about our time in Connecticut this summer. There was just so much fodder; I've never seen such heartbreak and hilarity, I've never suffered such conflict or pain or appreciation, I've never had such a powerful or relentless current of emotion.

I have all these photos on my camera, photos that beg to be captioned and shared, with stories that seem both minuscule and mellifluous.

So I'm just going to purge the ol' memory stick on you this Monday morning, okay?

We were in CT for three weeks. We had about 45 hours of innocence there, if you mark my terrified call to 9-1-1 on Thursday afternoon as the end of that phenomenon.

Yet the rest of the time was filled with activity, because we're human people who crave normalcy and nourish ourselves with the comforts of friends, beauty, music, and laughter.

Our activities included alot of this:



Sometimes interrupted by a little of this:

adult swim

The kids were such a blessing. They not only rose to the challenges that the circumstances demanded, they soared above my expectations for how they'd manage. They helped me. I think they helped all of us. They brought levity and light when things tended toward darkness.

And they were full of great ideas, like building a human pyramid:

One day, mom and the kids brought me to a highway rest stop, where we waited for a Peter Pan bus charted by New London's own Dutch Tavern to whisk me off to Citi Field.

That outing was a little bit like the opposite of mourning:


Except for when that pesky window popped off the bus on the way home:

We made it out okay, a very svelte Peter Pan Two eventually came along to save the day:


A couple of days later, my boy drove a yacht:

And my girl ate an ice cream roughly the size of her head:

Toward the end of our stay, the kids and I headed up to New London for a visit. Naturally, we headed straight to OB East, where after a gorgeously lovely afternoon at the beach, the kids dragged their Uncle Schlekah over to ride this cunningly named amusement:

Here's my boy going down head first, soon to be scolded about the dangers of that type of maneuver by the guard types:

And here's Mistah Schlekah, about to plow right over my poor unsuspecting girl:

Still, they all made it out okay:


We had busy days, we had some restful nights:

I guess we made it out okay.

4 comments:

one day from school starting in PA said...

wish I hadn't been so engrossed in my grief when my mom died, so I could have held onto some of the good stuff with pictures. Having a 2 yr old and a nursing 5 month old probably didn't help matters...I was just "spent" most of the time.

I can say that time makes things easier, but almost 13 yrs later, it can all floods right back...especially when I read your posts and recognize all that you've lost.

Thank you both for sharing...crying is good for the soul and you've allowed me a few cathartic tears :)

Me, You, or Ellie said...

I love this Jacqueline. Loved that Citi Field field trip (we have lots of great photos from that day too) and *loved* that Waterslide interlude. Your kids made merciless, well-deserved fun of the face their Uncle Bill made every time he plopped into the water.

The only thing I do not like about this post is how much it makes me miss you, schnookums. So much it hoits.

Sigh.

Love you.
Ellie

Me, You, or Ellie said...

Well it is a funny face he makes!

I can't believe you got to go on a Dutch Tavern outing, J -- I'm so, jealous!

And jealous about the yacht too. How grand for your boy.

Cee Tee was obvioulsy NOT AT ALL what you expected it would be, but it's good to know that you can have happy moments even in the middle of grief.

xo,Beth

Mom C said...

I love this so much Jacquie.... I love you mom