Does Life Get Any Better?
We just got home from a 3-day weekend at the lake and we’ve discovered that it’s getting harder and harder to leave on Sunday evening. Tonight, we didn’t leave until almost 8 pm…we just hate for it to end.
This weekend was special because I had a some other freelancers up on Friday for a day on the lake. It rained all through lunch, but we still had a ball eating at a great restaurant right on the water. The rain stopped by the time we got back to the cottage, so we decided to chance a boat ride. After we got the boat uncovered and started on our ride, the sun burned off the clouds and we had a great voyage over glass-smooth water. We were practically the only boaters out and that’s always a load of fun.
Saturday, I had to work on an editing gig, but somehow sitting on the deck under the umbrella made it feel less like work. I stopped for Beer-thirty, which is a tradition in our new community that we already love! We all gather, beverages in hand, on someone’s deck and drink and talk and laugh–it’s terrific. Saturday night’s Beer-thirty sorta turned into Supper. Husband had made chili while I was working, so we brought the pot of chili, cheese, crackers, and hot sauce, as well as the makings for sugar-free margaritas along to the festivities. Others had brought fruit, cheese, and various goodies, so we ate and drank and talked and laughed.
Today, after I worked all morning and Husband finished painting the shed, we took the boat down to the sandbar to scrape and scrub algae off the pontoons…now I know that doesn’t really sound appetizing…and it’s not particularly. But if you wanna dance, you gotta pay the piper–so yep, I scraped algae. Then we cruised around the lake for awhile, took a quick swim, and got back to the cottage just in time to shower for Beer-thirty.
Our life has changed a lot this summer and we’re crazy about it. Today, at Beer-thirty, I told our new lake friends about the first time we’d driven through the park. It was Memorial Day weekend and we were driving by the cottage–just to see if we were interested enough to have the realtor make us an appointment to see the inside. As we passed one of the other cottages in the park, we saw a group of people sitting on a deck, all relaxed, laughing and talking. They waved and shouted hello to us in such a friendly, happy way that I said to Husband, “There’s where I’d like to be! What a fun group of folks!”
Damned if I wasn’t sitting right there on that same deck tonight, drinking a beer and feeling relaxed, enjoying the company of those very people. My impression was spot on–friendly, gracious, fun, wonderful folks. We’re so blessed. I know this is an oddly chipper post for 9/11, but I’m very glad to be living in a country where this life is possible. Nope, life doesn’t get any better…as my fellow writer Jenny Crusie says regularly, “Nothin’ but good times ahead.”