Y’know, it is the 4th of July and I was actually bored enough earlier in the afternoon that I needed a field trip. I am a morning person and sometimes I need just a leetle beet of help to get through a certain part of the mid-afternoon. I knew that if I didn’t create some kind of mission, I would probably grab a glass of whiiine and head down to the seawall and, as y’all know, that would mean that my favo-rite amphibian (or whatever he is) would steal my wallet and frog-hop over to the “skoolteechers'” garbage sale. The boyz were taking a nap and I said to The Beautiful Becky, “I am gonna go over to Best Choice and get some more of that feta spread.” Without any hesitation at all, TBB said, “I’ll go!!! Do you want to drive?” Yes yes yes! I did wanna drive. My 6-speed manual Honda Civic! Vroom-vroom, let’s Go! A field trip at Houghton Lake to someplace other than Woldemort or a hardware store (and we have about a billion of those around here but that might take up a whole ‘nother blahg entry).

The past five 4th of Julys (Julies? what?) have been wonderful but I have not been on my own time. 2005* was right after The Engineer (my brother) died, unexpectedly to some of us but not to him, I don’t think (chronic disease, not suicide, just to be clear). So I was up at the Moominbeach with other members of the family, trying to make sense of it all. 2006. Memorial celebration and beach garage picnic for Grandroobly (my dad), who had died the previous March. It was fun but I was really stressed out by the sheer numbers of people that I had to interact with and I remember the relief I felt when I walked with Sam (archaeologist, not dog) at her beautiful Green Cabin after it was all over. 2007. Spent the holiday at the moominbeach again. In which fog rolls in and a Piedmontian jet-ski rescues an exhausted young swimmer, who was trying to SWIM to Round Guano ISLAND. A half-mile away. Note to the neighbors around the bay who have no respect for water, WE DON’T DO THAT KIND OF THING! Kids are ALWAYS supervised by adults when they swim. That’s why we haven’t LOST anyone by drowning on our beach. Yet. Let’s keep it that way. Please? 2008. Life had changed for me and, against all odds, I had a wonderful full time job again. In the IT industry! Vacation time? Not so much. We stayed in town to attend the beautiful wedding of our beautiful niece. Bugs & Horsey, Pooh, and NPJane came over for barbecue on the 4th. Stayed up late to watch faaarflies or whatever. 2009. Moominbeach again. Colder than blue blazes and fun times running after Radical Betty with her walker and oxygen bottle. A part of me is wishing I was still doing that.

I am here at Houghton Lake and it is always wonderful to be here. When I go to the Moominbeach, I carry the baggage of who I was when I was 22 and 16 and 10 and 3. Not everyone knows who I am now or how I got to be whatever the heck it is that I am. All those earlier versions of myself were just a person in the works. A very spirited person who sometimes had trouble controlling her emotions or whatever. And I am STILL in the works. Here at Houghton Lake, no one knows (or even cares) who I was before the GG decided I was okay to introduce to his family and that was when I was 26. I was still pretty messy then but I was somewhat presentable. Without getting too far into it, my in-laws accept me for who I am and they are great fun and I love them!

Have a great holiday and go shoot off some rockets! Just don’t use black powder and gas cylinders unless you are sure you know what you’re doing.

* I did have a blahg in 2005 but it was roll-yer-own in those days, so I can’t link to just that one entry. Anyway, it was just a rant about real estate developers. You don’t want to read that.

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