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Lobsterfest in Old Orchard Beach, MaineSep 9, 2005
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Tommy and the makeshift "bar"
Lobster, lobster everywhere!
Dad making his famous "cheesy eggs"
| Like so many of us, I come from a crazy, patchwork quilt of a blended family, stitched together by laughter, good times (and bad), lots of flexibility and a healthy dose of compromise. When my brother and I were kids, we determined which parent we'd spend time with using a matrix-driven, revolving schedule based on parent, event and year. Factoring in our step-siblings' schedules was a challenge, but we managed. The matrix became mind-numbingly complex when spouses and their family customs were factored into the equation. My brother and I began to feel as if we needed advanced degrees in logistics to navigate the terrain. One summer about 6 years ago, Jim and I went to Maine to visit Dad and my stepmother Nancy at their summer place in Old Orchard Beach for the weekend. We laughed a lot, ate lobster and drank Bloody Mary's, which was pretty good fun and we decided we had to do a "Lobsterfest" weekend again the following year. The next summer we were pleasantly surprised when my stepbrother Dan, his wife Tinsley and their son Tommy joined us for a day as they had recently moved back east from Montana (via Nashville). The following year my brother Stuart and his fiancée (now wife) Gretchen joined us, eventually with their daughter Emma and this year with their son Jack and Dan and Tinsley's daughter Lily. My Dad's first cousins Ben and Myrna and their daughter Hillary have been attendees for the past few years as Lobsterfest has lately been held the weekend after Labor Day and has become an annual event where we know we'll see part of our family and don't have to worry the rest of the year. As our cross-country trip evolved and we ended up not leaving until late July, the idea of being back for Lobsterfest was fast becoming obsolete. As the trip progressed and I had my moments of homesickness (translation - 'really missing Emma,' and yes, I miss you other nieces and nephews too!), Jim started to talk about leaving the car somewhere and flying home for Lobsterfest weekend. I resisted the idea because it would be any one of the following: too expensive, too complicated, too indulgent, too silly, too childish. The thought persisted and began to invade those quiet moments when your mind wanders, and I finally agreed with Jim that we really had to go. Unfortunately, this epiphany occurred just 3 days before the blessed event and were up a creek without a paddle. So we called on a few of our incredibly generous friends to rescue us: Beth, our dear friend and travel agent, helped us untangle the enormous number of flight permutations and costs (we were in South Dakota and could have flown from a number of cities and into a number of cities), Jim's friend (and now mine) Scott, opened his home and driveway in Boulder, CO for us to crash and leave our car. He even chauffeured us to and from the Denver airport. Dad picked us up at Logan in Boston and we were off to Old Orchard Beach. Some of the funniest stories from the weekend involved the kids. For instance, we celebrated Tommy's fifth birthday all weekend even though the actual day isn't until September 19th. Whenever someone wished him a happy birthday, he carefully reminded them that his real birthday isn't until the 19th. This included all the folks at the Build-a-Bear Workshop where we went to let him create his birthday present. As with all two year olds, Emma decided to be, as my Dad would say, a real pill and only wanted to be with "Tinwee" (she can't say "Tinsley"). Saturday night she inserted herself into Tinsley, Tommy and Lily's going-to-bed preparations, and when it came time for her to go back to the hotel with her own parents, her increasingly plaintive cries were absolutely hilarious ("Tiiinweee, Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiinweeeeeeeeeeee"). You'd have thought she was being kidnapped the way this kid carried on. You can imagine how happy I was that I schlepped all the way back from DENVER to be with her.... On Monday morning, Dad dropped us off at Logan early enough so we could spend a few hours visiting with my mom before we flew back to Denver to resume our trip. Now my mom is not the most confident driver when it comes to driving to Logan Airport, but she got directions and found her way to meet us with no problems at all. What a trooper! We visited for a few hours and promised to take pictures for the web site before we left. Unfortunately, we were so caught up in chatting that no one remembered the pictures. Mom sent me these pictures to post in lieu of ones taken that day. Needless to say, we had an awesome time. |
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