It's 18 days until I leave for Martha's Vineyard. A trip that was in the books since September 2025. During the chaos over the last two months I've tried to get out and fish but was never all in when I got down to the water, and the skunk confirms how much my half-hearted efforts paid off. Zilch.
But now it's crunch time. We're ending and beginning a huge chapter in our lives and it calls for all hands on deck, not taking a week off to go fishing. But... In the next few weeks it'll be a mix of getting down and opening up Cape May. We have to do it not only to do it, but to make it
look presentable for our neighbors who have already opened up and are enjoying their home away from home. That'll happen this coming weekend. And then there's going through each room and emptying out the stuff that's left and finishing up some projects we told the buyers we would handle. Tonight we should have a signed contract in hand and that will enable us to make an offer on one of three houses we have our eyes set on. In the end it might come down to buying a house from 750 miles away.
And then there's school. I working four days a week and still have to tighten up each weeks lecture and write the mid-term and final exams. And with the deluge of rain, and a warm-up starting today, the grass and weeds will make this place look like Jurassic Park, so I'll have to spend some time with the mower, trimmer, and blower. Be careful what you wish for. But there's no doubt we're doing the right thing.
The Suburban doesn't have a tow bar and wiring through the bumper for the trailer for the boat. While I know I can do it myself, as it's basically a bolt on bar, I'm going ahead and making an appointment to get someone else to install it, properly, imagine that. And then after it goes on I'll have to bring the boat and trailer down for them to tune up the axles and lights before the trip down to North Carlolina.
Yesterday during round two of the clothes debacle I did have a light moment when I went through my ties and belts. I've had the below belt for some time, which means I never wore it.
Embroidered into the belt is the South Carolina state flag. On that flag are two things, the first, which looks like a moon is actually a piece of silver armor called a gorget, worn on the hats of revolutionary War soldiers, the other a Palmetto tree, which represents the Palmetto log fort
used to protect Charleston from the invading British naval attack in 1776. It's interesting how in the year's 250th anniversary of our freedom from the British we're moving from and to places that played such a big part in our nations history. In 1776, in South Carolina, the above happened, and here in Titusville, George Washington crossed the Delaware River and won at The Battle of Trenton.
So, that's why the Vineyard trip comes at a bad time. But, as of now, I'm still in. While all the reservations are made and the bill paid, it's being able to mentally go and have fun that I wonder about. If you can't relax and be in the moment and enjoy yourself what's the sense of going? I will have a week post trip before the closing to go all in so that is on my side. I'm realizing now how big a move this is and amazed that everything happened so quick and is going down sooner then later.