Blogging to you live from University Place today. We made it here safely and are currently on day two of our five-week summer sojourn. My anxiety levels are still quite high, but dropping, slowly but surely. In three significant ways, I'm not really cut out for this type of thing: 1) I'm a bit of a homebody; 2) I'm especially susceptible to stress from planning and decision fatigue; 3) I'm a chronic second guesser.* So, why do it? Because I don't want these things to control me. When I think back on my life, I'm never like That was such a great experience! I just stayed home and did the same routine I always do! Almost all the cool shit I've done required me to proactively come out of my comfort zone in some way. So, yeah, I've been stressing a bit over the logistics and the finances** and whether or not I parked our new car back home in the optimal spot in the driveway. But none of the shit is going to matter a year, five years, twenty years from now. The only thing I'll remember is that I got to spend a summer with my family, whom I don't really see that much of otherwise.
*Perhaps no habit of mine annoys S more than this. Immediately after I make a decision, I'll question whether or not it was the right thing to do. It's just the way my mind works. I can't flip off that over-analysis switch. I just try my best to keep it contained to my own brain now. Nobody likes getting tractor-beamed into your neurosis.
**I keep thinking we're spending too much money, and maybe we are, but S did the math and if you add all the expenses of coming out here -- air fare, car, Airbnb, camps for kids, etc. -- it's actually cheaper than sending our kids to six weeks of the camp in DC they usually go to. That might seem hard to believe, but a) S has a seemingly endless trove of United miles from traveling so much for work, b) summer camps in DC are frickin' expensive.
And we are already doing fun stuff. We woke up super early and went to Chambers Bay, with the plan to walk the three-mile loop, but Lil' S1 started grousing after 100 yards (it's getting harder and harder to get that kid to exercise), so S took them to the playground, and I ran it by myself. I might try to be a morning person while I'm here. I'm on East Coast time, so I have that in my favor, but I'm also convinced that I have a sleep-schedule disorder called N24, so that's working against me. Not sure how those things will cancel out.
Then we went to the library to get the boys some reading material (especially Lil' S1; the kid might complain about physical activity, but get him into a book, and you won't hear a peep out of him until he gets hungry). The library is within walking distance of where we are staying, and it's in the heart of the UP city center, which is actually pretty cool.
After that we met the rest of the family at the Fircrest Fun Fair (or something like that). You know the type of event, a bunch of booths with crafts, a ton of food trucks, and a band of middle-age white guys playing "Life is a Highway." My little nephew and niece sold some stuff they decorated -- boxes and frames and the like. It was cool. The entire event was cool. My favorite part was at the end, when everybody was leaving, my nephew Q wanted my boys to come over to their house, but everybody was tired, and so we said, "No, you'll see each other tomorrow." And he responded, "I want to spend all the time together." So cute. So earnest.
Until next time...
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