It Was Easy Yesterday

It was easy yesterday to feel like there’s nothing wrong. All of my aunts and uncles and most of my cousins and some of their kids — four generations — were gathered for Grandpa Snooky’s 83rd birthday. We  joked about who’s the #1 grandchild and discussed ordering a bucket of chicken. We caught up with each other and fawned over the littlest family members.

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Ever the humorist, Grandpa tried to convince a fully uniformed security guard to show up and take one of us away. We all laughed when the security guard said, “I heard it was somebody’s birthday…” and everyone’s first thought was that he might be a dancer hired for the birthday boy.

It was easy yesterday to feel like we were gathered in Grandma and Grandpa’s house for Sunday lunch instead of in a sterile, quiet hospital room. It was easy yesterday to feel like there’s nothing wrong.

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Photodump: Troyssie’s Wedding Weekend

While I don’t have pictures of anything really substantial from Jessie and Troy’s wedding, I do have pictures of a herd of mini horses, Jessie getting ready for the big day, and a pitstop at Havre de Grace, MD on the way home after the wedding.

Jessie and Troy’s wedding rehearsal
Jessie and her flower girl Alexis saying hi to baby Fiona
wedding day chicken fingers
A Sunday stroll through Havre de Grace, MD
Hugh demonstrating the smallness of a barber shop
I couldn’t get up into the chair…
Hugh climbed to the top of the lighthouse for this view
And this view

A Toast to Lady Friends

Last night I hosted Bunco while Hugh was playing softball.

We still call it Bunco even though it’s really just wine, snacks, and catching up on everyone’s happenings.

We had jalapeño hummus, spinach artichoke dip, and bruschetta. All simple, all homemade, all delicious.

And as we all started sharing what we’ve been up to, I realized we could spend the whole night toasting each other.

A toast to a ladyfriend completing her grad school program and another beginning hers in the fall.

One for a just married ladyfriend and two more with weddings in the coming months.

A brand new job recently started and two new jobs starting in the next few weeks.

Commitments to run races, hit the gym first thing in the morning, and renovate a home.

That’s a lot of awesome things going on among nine pretty great girls and I feel pret-ty lucky that they let me hang out with them.

Where The Boat Leaves From [And The Best Day of Hugh's Life]

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Friday night, as we walked across the bridge to Georgetown to see Iron-Man 3 (which was awesome), Hugh and I decided that we’d rather sit near the water in the sunshine, fishing and/or reading, than stay at home and do chores. So the next morning we hopped in the car and off we went to where the boat leaves from.

We took the boat out to test a fishing contraption my cousin had fashioned. The boys did all the work, I just enjoyed the ride and occasionally got in the way.

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Hugh even got to steer us through a crab pot mine field.

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Back on the dock, I braved the chilly breeze through a couple beers while watching a snorkel operation to scrape some barnacles off the boat and Hugh began to tackle his new tackle box.

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Then yesterday — the day he now calls the best day of his life — Hugh set up shop on the dock and put all his new fishing knowledge into hours of casting, baiting, tying, re-tying, and trying every lure in his box…

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…until finally

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Hugh caught a striper off the dock, which has never been done before. Yes it was too small to keep, but next year that fish is going to be tast-y.

After the excitement, I went back to my post — reading in the boat where the breeze couldn’t get me.

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And admiring my surroundings.

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