June 23: Back to Maine!

Without the house we love so much, I didn't know if I could ever go back to our Maine. We know it so well - Adam too by now - and claim it as ours, but for all my life, when we say Maine, we mean a sprawling 1895 oceanfront house full of family and decades of memories.

But thanks to Jane, we came back this year after all, to a big beautiful house just down the street. We'd always meant to get the boys baptized, and when Jane proposed baptizing all three at our beloved stone chapel where she was married and we had attended services almost every year of our lives while in town, it sounded perfect. Coming back to a place we loved that was no longer there in the same way - Sherry no longer able to open the house to all of us - seemed depressing. But with a reason, and the promise of being surrounded by family like always, coming back was just what we needed.

And it turned out that the rental house Jane found for us radiated love and warmth in a way you could feel as soon as you walked in. It also belonged to a family who loves the house and this spectacular place, but honestly, it was lighter, brighter, and came with a 3rd floor that - rather than the delightful creepiness of the third floor at the Deck House - was full of toys and was obviously made for children. We love the Deck House as much as ever, but this new house became our happy home for a week. And along the way, as I watched the boys gleefully running from grandparents to aunts and uncles to cousins, I realized that of course it's not the house that matters most, as I'd always thought. It's having all of us together.

Another bonus of the rental house was that it was right across the street from Pebble Beach, a strip of rocky ocean access where we used to hunt for sea glass as children. It had always been close enough for a treasure-hunting trip or too during our stay, but having it across the street meant that the boys could go play in the rocks and water every day. There was always some willing adult ready to take them to Pebble Beach. And that meant bags of collections...sea shells, rocks, and small bits of sea glass, which piled up on the front porch and gave me visions of extra suitcase charges at the airport...but the boys loved it so much.