With my BFF in town for the last couple of weeks, I've been ignoring my blogging responsibilities. I can't help it; we had so much to do and far too little time in which to do it...
The last week of Shelby's visit was by far the best. Of course, I've grown accustomed to having to share her when she is here on vacation but this year, I spent a huge amount of time with both "sides" of her family and didn't feel nearly as miserable about our too-little time together. During her first week, we enjoyed Stauffeneker gatherings and outings and, last week, we spent time on Seneca Lake with John's families---the Davies and the Farleys. Having grown-up with Shelby's family, her family is like my own, slightly extended, family. I like spending time with her brothers and their families. It is terrific to see all of Shelby's nieces and nephews and I can never quite believe how much they've grown.
This year, I had the pleasure of meeting John's extended family--both the Davies and the Farleys. I feel as though I should capitalize PLEASURE or add some sort of animation to it because that is E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what it was to meet this terrific group of people.
Let me pause here for a moment to explain Shelby's summer vacations, which consist of two consecutive weeks in New York. Historically, her first week is spent at my house with daily trips to Lansing to visit her family (one of her brothers is out there and he and his wife do the majority of the entertaining). During her second week in NY, John joins her and they spend a week on Seneca Lake with John's family. I am not proud to admit that it is extremely difficult to share her time here with so many other people. Because she lives so far away and our visits are few and far between, I often find that one [part-time] week is far too little time for our reunions. I, also, am quite embarrassed to say (write?) that I've found myself extremely jealous and envious of the time she spends on Seneca Lake with John's family. If I were to play psychologist and analyze where these somewhat-childish feelings come from, I might infer that there are a couple of things going on here. First, since Shelby is my closest and dearest friend, I think it is likely that I consider her more of a sibling-- the sister I've never had but always wanted. Given the distance between us for the last several years, it is only natural that I want her all to myself when she is home for a coupe of weeks. Second, I do not have a large immediate family. It's me and my brother. I don't want to short change him here. I love my brother but he's not....well, he's not a sister. I think that I have this huge desire to be part of a close-knit, BIG, fun family. I would love to have a few more brothers and, at the very least, one sister. I have a great, pretty big, extended family. A lot of cousins, all of whom I truly love. But here's the thing. We are not close. We are not the type of extended family who will ever rent a house together for a week or vacation together at Disney. No, that's not us. That's John's family---the Davies and the Farleys.
I now resume my regularly scheduled blog...
So, I managed to invite myself (and Dan and the girls) to the Davie/Farley day of boating on Seneca Lake. However, because, this year, Shelby spent week one of vacation with her grandmother (and not me) and had very limited time to spend with me, I am not TOO ashamed of this self-invite. Dan and I rented a pontoon boat and chugged around the lake, tubing and sightseeing. It was fun. But fighting the warm current of the creek at Dresden Bay, leading to the power plant, swimming under the fence, sneaking around the power plant to a dock where all fifteen of us could make ten foot jump (or five? or three?) back into the water to ride the current back down around the bend and to the fence was... EPIC. Not necessarily because I am the type of person who craves adrenaline rushes (like trespassing at the power plant or jumping off the dock offered) but because I got to spend some bonding time with John's family. I was spending time with the people I'd heard all about for years. I was thrilled to be a part of their family tradition--boating and the warm water creek and trespassing... Yes, it was awesome.
A picnic and a somewhat fiercely competitive kickball game later, I was entrenched in the Davie/Farley family. Thankfully, I had my camera because I needed to capture my new, adopted-family. A baby named Wren (after Sir Christopher Wren); Uncles who grill and chat while holding their cold beer or wine or scotch in their strong hands; Aunts (one of whom really enjoys vanilla vodka) who epitomize "
the sixties are the new thirties" message that Oil of Olay is trying to sell in their new ads; cousins of all ages--- tweens and teens and up; they joked and played and talked and ate and I took pictures.
I enjoyed time with my adopted-famiy a couple more times during the week and then, slowly, they dwindled, departing to SanDiego, Connecticut, South Carolina, Arizona...
Now, here it is Monday night and I am looking through my pictures, tagging my adopted-family members and connecting with them on Facebook. My pictures are beautiful--not because I am a talented photographer but because my subject matter is beautiful--- and the memory of the last week, spending time with the Davies and the Farleys....well, that is beautiful, too.
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