I’m sitting on my kitchen window seat, while the light of the morning sun embraces my shoulder and illuminates my typing fingers. My shadow sits on the wall next to me; it waits for each move I make just to exist. Outside, the morning dew glistens on my lawn. Sonny is at my feet; he can’t make up his mind between curling up and drowsing or looking out the window as day breaks. The coffee maker fills the quiet room with its irregular cadence. I’m in love with the summer of 2010. Yes, I’m sure of it, it is true love.
This past week, Mark and I took a much-needed vacation. We didn’t go anywhere, to an exotic island or a different country. There was no money for that, every bit of money goes towards the wedding. Luckily, though, the weather made this week feel like we were in Aruba. We enjoyed our backyard and all its amenities. Mark alternated between drifting on the raft in the pool, lying on a lounge chair or dosing in his hammock under the trees. He is as tan as he was when we returned from the cruise to the eastern Caribbean. He is rested. He is in love, too, with Sonny. Sonny is in love with him, as well. You could tell Mark is his favorite. He follows him around the house and watches his every move.
During the week we have taken Sonny for long walks, on the trails of West Hills County Park and in our neighborhood in Hicksville. I’m in love with my neighborhood, with its lush landscaped lawns adorned with arrays of flowers and bushes. I’m in love with the simple, but lovely houses, each with its own decorative stamp of either a stone-paved driveway or front porch or window shutters. Each day we took alternate routes up the uniquely named tree-lined streets- such as Cottage Drive, Wishing Lane, or Cloister Avenue. Last night, we met a woman watering her exotic garden of perennials. She had an assortment of lilies in every shade. She let me take a whiff of one- its fragrance lasted till I got home. She gave us advice on how to bring our flowers back to life. The day before we met another woman with a labradoodle and a poodle. She made homemade bones. Her name was Ginny. She grew up in the house she lived in. We talked about everything, her husband’s recent death to cancer, how she cared for both of her parents, and most of all, about dogs. While we talked, little 12-pound Sonny played with her 100-pound labradoodle.
Yesterday, we began with a breakfast at Starbucks to take to the dog park and ended with a delicious, extravagant dinner at Taco Bell. We were right near Shake-a-Paw, where I bought Sonny, so we went in to browse and interact with some puppies. Mark fell in love with a brown Labrador retriever, but she stayed in the store. Scott and Lindsay came home late last night, he exhausted from working on their house, she from working a second job selling cakes at Costco’s to pay for all the unexpected their house is costing. I made them dinner at 10:00pm, a simple, but home-cooked meal. Kimberly even relented and had something to eat, too. I’m still in love with being a mother and caring for my children, now blissfully happy to have three of them.
We took care of some wedding plans this week. Wednesday, we went to the florist in Long Beach and Lindsay, along with advice from Aunt Bonni, made the final decisions on the bouquets. On Monday, Lindsay had her first fitting of her wedding dress. I fell in love with that dress all over again and the vision of Lindsay being a bride. Monday was the only day, it rained- just briefly in the evening. Summer rain, steamy summer rain, leaving that indescribable scent in the air. We ran to the car, protecting the veil and headpiece more than ourselves, from the rain. My mother says that rain is a sign of good luck; hopefully she is right and this is the good luck rain that sprinkles us now and stays away on the day of the wedding.
It is July 4th, we have our annual get-together at Barbara and Eric’s house with our usual group of friends. We will laugh and eat and drink and talk. Last year, we talked about Roselee and Joey’s daughter’s wedding that was a month before and Janet and Rob’s daughter’s wedding that was coming up in October. This year we will talk about Lindsay and Scott’s approaching wedding and the baby- Roselee’s and Joey’s first grandchild due in August.
Tomorrow, our last day of vacation, we made plans with Roselee and Joey to have bagels for breakfast on the beach. It is not Aruba, but with good friends to share time with, it doesn’t matter what beach you’re at. Besides, Long Island beaches are pretty nice.
Sunday morning, breakfast with Mark and the Beatles on the radio. Today I want to savor summer, bathe in it, taste it, and relish each bite slowly. But I’m laughing at Mark chasing Sonny who somehow got a tissue and is busy shredding it into pieces all over the rug and running up the stairs to avoid his father’s admonishment. The Beatle’s “Getting Better” plays in the background. It’s getting better all the time….and
I’m in love. Happy 4th of July.
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