Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Cozy but doable...

Before A officially launched his firearms business he wasn't allowed to accept payment for teaching. A few months ago he taught a class to some local fellows and one of them decided that in lieu of payment, he would loan us his house in NH. It turned out to be in the next town over from where our good friends live so we happily accepted!

For months we've been planning to go up for a weekend in the fall and in early September we finally decided on Columbus Weekend for a variety of reasons - 1) The owners weren't using the house. 2) It's a long weekend. 3) It's our seventh anniversary weekend (WOW!). 4) Some of our other good friends were available the same weekend and could join us. 5) Who doesn't want to be in northern New England on Columbus Weekend (which should be just about peak leaf season)?

Once we settled on the weekend we started kicking around the idea of doing a fundraiser for our friends that live there as their daughter had just been through an expensive health issue that kept her in the hospital for a few weeks and required intensive physical and occupational therapy after she got home. Brilliant idea! But we didn't know how to get it rolling in a town where they know everyone and we know no one. Thankfully one of her wonderful local friends volunteered to head up the potluck event. Fabulous!

So our other friends decided to come along too (okay... I dragged them into it lovingly). 

Knowing the house we were staying in slept 11 was all I really cared about - a bed for every butt. It turns out that the house might really be more "camp-like" as it sleeps eleven people... But eight of them are in four queen beds in a loft. 

For us gals - we do this all the time. We are quite accustomed to jamming six people into a tiny suite and sharing one bathroom. It's what we do. We are so happy to be together that we don't really care about stepping over suitcases or standing in line to go pee in the morning. We are sisters. Most of us have been roommates at one time or another and we've all been through pledging where it's a right of passage to have survived at least a week with 5+ girls in one teeny dorm room sleeping on three twin mattresses. Actual beds are a luxury compared to that!

But the guys are a different story. It's not their greatest desire to hang out in their jammies giggling or solving first world problems or re-living ancient college stories until we are laughing so hard that at least one of us needs an inhaler and another needs a dependable undergarment. But we've married GOOD guys. Men. All of them are men. GOOD men! They come along on these less-than-blissful "vacations" because they love us. They often spend their time corralling kids, making multiple grocery store runs, or simply entertaining themselves (together or alone - they don't care) because they know that this is an opportunity that we don't get very often. They know we are busy women that live too far apart and value each other so deeply that these silly little get-togethers in less-than-ideal accommodations fill our friendship love cups for a while. 

So as the weekend approaches, my wish is this: For a bathroom door that not only closes but locks so B's husband can not yell "I'm in here" repeatedly while conducting his business. A bed for D's husband so he doesn't have to sleep on the couch. A nearby Dunkin Donuts for my husband so when it's time for his daily dose of black ice tea and ten minutes alone he doesn't have to suffer. And earplugs for all of them because let's face it... 20+ years later we gals still find each other so hilarious and entertaining that we might still be cackling away when the sun comes up. It's happened before......

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