This has been a strange 6 months - to say the very least. After Poppy passed away in August, we had to pack up and head back to PA to start the school year. Life marches on in that way..... We made a trip back to the beach house before the start of soccer season with all intentions of coming back either for a short trip during the season or certainly after the season ended. Life gets in the way in that way.... We missed having Poppy at the beach house waiting for us when we got there and it was an adjustment for sure. Life is unfair in that way..... We never made it here during the soccer season and when the last games rolled around there were reports of a storm coming up the coast. Instead of all of us going that weekend, My Wonderful Husband went to prepare the house as best he could and then we waited. The rest of that story is history and documented already in P365 (+1) 2012. We waited and we watched and we wondered and we cried. Life can be cruel in that way.... Our normal tradition of holidays at the beach house were disrupted in the very year that we were dealing with not having Poppy with us for the holidays. Life can throw you curve balls in that way.... But we were certainly one of the lucky ones - many homes were far worse than ours - but the island was rebuilding and we were cleaning along with many others. The holidays came and went in quiet family togetherness and once again we waited. We managed to get back for one day after Christmas - our first time back on the island as a family in almost four months. Even though it was only one day, it made us all happy to be back. We saw the improvements on the island - neighbors rebuilding - businesses struggling back to their feet. Life can give you hope in that way... Once again, there was a long stretch that we could not be here. The kids' schedules made it difficult, My Wonderful Husband had to do some traveling for work, and the weather didn't always cooperate. Add to that the realization once again that Poppy was not there waiting for us with the coffee on, the porch light lit and some yummy snack when we got in the house, and these last two months have been a challenge. Some difficult days have just passed and loom tomorrow - the 6 month anniversary of Poppy's passing on the 18th, his birthday on the 23rd, and tomorrow, the 7 year anniversary of GiGi's passing - I can only hope that they are celebrating together now instead of apart. Life can test you in that way.... With the end of the winter soccer season last week, we decided to take the kids out of school for a day and enjoy a long weekend back at the beach in the healing salt air. We got here late but the feeling when we cross the bridge on to the island is the same whether in the daylight or in the dark - ahhh, finally - home. Life can be good in that way.....
*In three words, I can sum up everything that I have learned about life: it goes on. - Robert Frost*
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