We’ve gone on holiday for three weeks to a place where I and the
kids know no one, and the LSH (long-suffering husband) once dated
every eligible woman between the ages of 45 and 60. Including one of
the librarians at the library where I’m typing this column. Yes, we’re
in thinly populated Western Maryland staying at the LSH’s house across from a state park.
And we’re watching our kids grow up awful fast.
First, we arrived at an empty house -- as in no furniture. So, we came
with a UHaul full of beds, dressers and kitchen supplies. (The living
room remains empty.) So, the first day of vacation, LSH and the kids
and I packed the van, we all drove to Oakland, Maryland and unpacked
it. LSH then got back IN the van to return it to DC. I collapsed in
bed.
The kids astonishingly were not tired. So, they washed the kitchen
floor -- with plenty of bickering on how best to scrub -- and unpacked
food into kitchen shelves. (The snack shelf is easy to reach.)
They’ve also helped hang pictures, (Daughter is a whiz); they’ve
washed clothes and dried them, and they’re washing dishes. (We have no dishwasher so this family is doing dishes the old-fashioned way -- we assign the children to do it and then nag them until it’s done.)
They’ve been sweeping and vacuuming, with a fair amount of grace. They also helped LSH paint two rocking chairs but, truth to be told, he put the second coat on solo.
By then, they’d talked me into letting them rent kayaks. It’s
downright stunning to see a girl who can barely breathe doing the
crawl stroke come flying across an open lake in a kayak and gracefully
land it. It’s also a great way to explore a small lake, and see up
close and personal what an astonishing variety of dragon flies there
are out here.
They’ve also built a teepee with the huge pile of sticks in the deep,
woodsy back yard, made a floor out of abandoned shingles and wove bark between the sticks to weather proof it. And tonight they set the
s’more fire. They laid out the wood, lit the fire and kept it going
long enough to tie on a gigantic sugar rush.
But outside of chores, there’s a lot of freedom here. So, the kids can
walk into Herrington Manor State Park to a basketball court, a lake,
hiking and biking trails and a nature center, where they know all the
employees by their first name and have a favorite -- Jeremy the
college aged rock star kid nature tour giver.
Oakland, the nearest town, is small and friendly enough that it feels
safe to let Son shop alone. Our reward for that today was that he came
back from the antique store, where he had been eying some baseball
cards, with his allowance still in his pocket. (This is a boy who spends money faster than the local hummingbirds beat their wings.)
“I decided to wait,” he said. “I have a lot of baseball cards.”
Don’t grow up too fast, darlings.
