Preface

For the last twenty-odd years my family went on a weekly vacation to Cape Cod. Last year was the first year we didn't and we didn’t for a couple of reasons. The first reason was that the woman who owned the cottage we rented every year had passed away. One of her sons inherited the place, and for some inexplicable reason, he had not made me and my family his top priority. After one short year of ownership he decided to sell our the cottage- without asking. It wasn’t exactly a shock, but still, I thought it was a little inconsiderate. Still, we were able to squeeze in one truncated vacation before the place was sold, but barely- we were able to rent that final year with the understanding that realtors may be stopping by to view the place while we were there.

An even bigger factor than the cottage being gone is that my kids are growing up. This comes as no great surprise to anyone except me. The thing is, back when my kids were small, my schedule was their schedule. I could put a deposit down on the cottage in March, for a week’s stay in August, and not give it a second thought. It was no big deal to herd a bunch of little kids and know what they would be doing months in advance.

But now it's a different ball game. As they've gotten older, they seem to have developed lives of their own. I'm not sure how this has happened. I certainly don't remember giving them permission, but it's happened anyway. Their thoughtlessness in having their own lives has therefore made scheduling family events a lot more difficult. Planning in advance for a common week together goes out the window. Even coordinating schedules a couple of weeks in advance can be impossible.

Except this year.

It was pretty much last minute, but somehow we managed to go away together once again- hopefully not for the last time. It was a lot of fun and I'll write more on this later, but right now Iron Man calls...