just imagine...

...my living room on a February afternoon, the wind swirling the snow around the house, the little heater working furiously, it's very hum warm and comforting. Mirielle here, talking about spring, about summer, how it flies by. Mirielle who had/has a thing for Airbnb, looking, planning, dreaming...she found a cabin in the woods, a small new cabin, built by a woman with her own hands on her own land, a woman moving from the Big Apple to the woods, to support herself after years in the rat race. Okay, I did flourish that a bit, but the bare bones of it are facts. The land was in her family for generations, she recently purchased more land, and decided to build cabins, apart from each other and rustic but with all the amenities.

I happened to have some cash, just got paid for babysitting, so I told her that of course I would pitch in for a weekend in July. "A Weekend In July". The very phrase is delicious in February!!!

The cabin is small, is for four people. Char and Cam were dancing around at the thought of it, so we decided, just them, Mirielle, and me. (Now if you ever had 16 kids, or even THREE kids, and were bringing just two, you would know what I mean when I write this phrase: Mommy Guilt.) We looked at as saving a weekend, putting it in the bank, a weekend that was already taken, come what may. Because, as Mare said, you think you're going to do all these things, and summer passes...
So we paid for that cabin, and this weekend became ours.

About the Guilt thing: it ain't happening. Jonathan has plans, he's going to a huge car show with his friends, and the other kids are actually way too happy they have the house to themselves! (Joseph is here, so they're not really alone.) I was talking, at one point, of letting one of them go instead of me, but no, they said, really, they said, just go! We love when you're gone! ouch. But they're teenagers, I know what they mean.

Paul just happens to be in Singapore, too. His schedule is unpredictable...if he were home, I may have switched things up, but he's not.

Anyway, this afternoon Evelyn is going to drive Char, Cam, and me to the hospital, where Mirielle works, and drop us off. Mare will get her car from the garage, and pick us up, and off we'll go. Our bags are already packed in there, we will just be waiting on the sidewalk outside of the hospital with a cooler and some grocery bags, ha.

This fine morning, I woke at 6:04, all happy we are going bye bye. Evelyn and I are heading to the grocery store, and to Kohl's...she bought jeans the other day and they left the taggy thing on it, and I happen to have $30 in Kohl's cash. So poor us, ha.

Benjamin and Ashley are moving tomorrow, and I do feel bad I won't be here for that. But when we reserved this cabin, we had no idea they would be buying a house, no idea they would close on it, and have this moving date.

Ah well, time to renew my library books (the things you can do online!), and get moving...

But first imagine this...relaxing...ah, I can't wait.