Paradise in Massachusetts

Before my life gets sucked into the vortex of school, I have to post about our incredible time at Cape Cod last week. Our friends Susannah & Brian invited us up to Susla's mom's house in Truro, close to the tip of Cape Cod, for not quite a week of heaven. Alexandra had never made a car trip that long, and while she did scream for almost 3 hours of the drive up (1am-3:30am), when we woke the next morning to views of Cape Cod Bay...sigh. Let's just say that my eardrums recovered almost instantaneously.

I was born and bred on Southern beaches. In fact, I have a hard time getting in the water north of the Mason Dixon line--too cold! I'll lay in the beach, get hot, and wade in up to my knees before retreating to the sand and being the Southern Belle Punk. I'll wish I was at the Outer Banks and silently curse the North under my breath.

But the Cape was different. With a few days of perspective now, I have decided that it's magic. I actually swam in the ocean and the bay--the water was temperate. The light there...it's like you're in another dimension. It's warm and makes every photograph you take look perfect. The stars were outlandish; it's hard to believe that they're out there all the time, but we just can't see them in NYC. The air smelled so good; it was like rehab for my lungs. Amazing.

Our kids, Ezra & Alexandra, loved all over each other, had stroller races on the deck, played in the sand and water of the bay, a pond, the tidepools, and the ocean. They had love fests in the kitchen, quarreled a bit over the strollers, bathed in the same tub, and fed each other food during mealtimes. It was too cute. They slept like logs after days in the sun, and we ate, drank, and caught up during those night hours.

Even though we were gone for less than a week, it felt like longer. When we got back to Brooklyn, before rejoining the pulse of city life, we noted the grey/blue sky, the dirtiness, and the smogg-y air in contrast to the Cape, and then slipped effortlessly back into city life.

Thanks Susannah, Brian, Ezra (and Polly!) for such a great conclusion to the summer!