Low Tide Notes | 0017
New Jersey is the garden state!!
Hey, Tuesday.
I’m home after a whirlwind of a weekend in New Jersey. In five nights I slept in three beds as sickness plagued my family (norovirus). I was solo-parenting because Jack was on a boys trip, and working because we were shortstaffed. And to top it off, it rained the entire trip, which meant no beach days or boat rides. Poor me!
Still, I said I’d not let anything get me down! I bundled Junie in her raincoat and we weathered the storm to buy Fudge Kitchen. During a lapse in the rain, I got a Wawa coffee and watched the waves. Jack called, and I said I’m salvaging my trip! I’m going to do something big! Mama flew first class on the way home because god dammit, she deserved it.
Take me to church (aka the ocean)
I have some family stuff going on (who doesn’t).
And I’m not going to get into it.
What I am going to get into, though, is the ocean and how I want to be by it forever.
When I was 22, I created a 1, 5 and 10 year “plan.” It included a write up of my perfect day, and personal and professional goals for each aforementioned milestone.
Let us have a good laugh.
I got the man, I got the child… and I still got the debt.
And I have exactly one year left to get the “beautiful house by the sea.”
I think I can do it!!
New Jersey is the garden state
Having my baby in the home where I grew up was special… and really hard. The dichotomy of telling her my memories, knowing she’ll never have any of her own there, panged me in a way I didn’t expect.
I took time to look at what I love about that house. The skylights, the hardwoods, the windows, the greenery.
My dad plans to sell it soon. It’s too big of a home for one person, he says.
Plus, the neighboring township plans to place an Amazon-sized warehouse on a plot next door.
I can’t think too hard about that.
If you haven’t yet, check out some of my past essays:
