This past week ranks as one of my most stressful in a while. The shop opening was great: people responded really nicely to the design and to the wares being sold. There were lots of return customers during the week and I think that this weekend will be a busy one. I spent most of the week running errands for the shop – once you open and actually have paying customers inside, you realize what the little missing bits are. Like coffee stirrers. Shopping baskets. An umbrella stand.
my kids enjoying oat cakes on opening day
After the excitement and adrenalin of opening came the crash. Not only is there a slight down after the high of trying to get a space ready, but I also spent the latter part of the week in a frenzy of packing, laundry, taxes, and work. Saturday morning we were leaving for a much needed family vacation to Cape Cod. The hubby, kids and I spent a wonderful, cold and rainy holiday there last year – really one of the nicest family vacations ever. This year, we were going with my parents, uncle and aunt (visiting from Germany) and my cousin. So, of course, the kids started feeling feverish on Wednesday. And then the killer blow, my grandma fell at her nursing home Thursday, fracturing her hip. She went in for a hip replacement Friday. My poor dad had to stay behind and try to join us in a few days. So I was leaving excited and exhausted, but with a bit of a heavy heart.
And so our little foursome set out for the States. There were downs: some waiting at the border (really brutal with a cranky 19 month old) and some strange commands from my iMaps (we were ordered to go in circles for a while and then it kept trying to get us to drive through the woods to get to the house). And ups : a three-and-a-half-hour nap from said cranky 19 month-old and a lovely pit stop somewhere outside of Boston.
kids being adorable somewhere in Massachusetts
And after a lot longer than six-and-a-half-hours, we arrived to this beauty in East Sandwich:
And all the stress of the last week (or last year, really) started to slide away. Seeing my happy family made it all feel better – that and a glass of bubbly upon arriving, a lobster roll for dinner and a sunny day on the beach today. So even though I am preoccupied and we miss Dad, we toasted him with a Bloody Caesar for Father’s Day and started the real difficult job of relaxing.
xa
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