I miss my family so much it hurts.
This weekend I missed a cousin’s graduation, a nephew’s baptism, and the chance to hug my most amazing mother. Upon securing our summer house in East Hampton this afternoon, I was overcome with a rush of memories of my summers spent out at Ten Mile Lake. More than any others, these memories have defined me.
The women in this photo—my cousin Jenny diving into the lake (she’s now an RN); her sister Lauren washing her hair (?) in the water (she is on to PT school); their mom, Connie, a second mom to us; my own mom, the most un selfish person I know; my sister in the float up chair—a mother now herself to 3 beautiful boys; and me…..surrounded by beauty.
These women have shaped me into the woman I have and will become. I learned everything about how to be a girl from them. We learned from each other, I suppose. We made up our own rules, shaved our legs into the lake, and talked and talked and talked. The only thing we had to worry about was what time we all wanted to go to SCOOPS for icecream that day and whether or not the boys would bring in enough fish for us for dinner, or if we were going to have to make pizza again-(ha).
I had no idea at the time this photo was being unwittedly taken (by my dad?) that this would be the last summer we would all be up there….And so it goes…and life gets in the f’ing way.
This year will be the last summer we have our cabin (aptly titled “stonehedge”) and i don’t give a DAMN how much money I will be “loosing” in my Hamptons rental, or how many page views it costs us-I will be in Ten Mile’s waters (in Northern Minnesota) for at least a week-so help me God. I am asking, no begging, the women in this photo to join me. We have so much to talk about. (Like, did you know i jumped two spots in my tumblrarity ranking today…HE-LLO!?)
In all seriousness, I look at this photo and can’t help but think “What a beautiful life I have found myself in the middle of.”
Mom, thank you for bringing me into all of this.
