Two if by sea

Yesterday was two years of living the dream. It's weird, right, to commemorate the day you bought a house? It's more than that to me though. It was a life changer on that day two years ago, and it still is now. I remember throwing the dogs into the car and roaring down there immediately, crying most of the way, and never looking back.

I meant to log on and post a few photos to commemorate the occasion. Then I thought well I can just do a quick month thing. Naturally, it got long and out of hand. By the end I was like derr it's not a quick thing. So much of my life is lived at the shore. During the week our house at home feels like a way station where we do laundry and wait to go back to the shore. And by we I mean I because MFD works most weekends and now has mummery so he's not always getting a day in down there.

We didn't spend a lot of time down there after mid-October last fall because we were in Ireland and Scotland at the end of October/beginning of November, spent Thanksgiving at Lori's, and then MFD was out at Standing Rock in December. Then I had a Saturday work event, then holiday parties, you know the drill. We closed the house up earlier than normal, but I did see one last sunrise down there.

Popping in on a 74 degree day in February for a house check and beach run.

I planned to spend my 40th there and it fucking snowed, delaying the house opening more than a week. I was in a big snit. We didn't open it until March 24, and that was molasses like because we had the Covenant House sleepout the night before. Regardless, the dogs were happy to be back at the beach and so were we.

April was an ass kicking month. We replaced the railings on on apartment porch, removed old carpet there and painted the concrete, painted the wood on that porch and the upper porch, painted the two bedrooms on the third floor, got rid of a bunch of old furniture and fashioned new tables and lamps for one of the rooms up there. Lola did an egg hunt that was crowded as fuck, we spent Easter there, and a very hot April weekend with the girls. I had my first Kohr Bros of the season and got an Ocean City library card, which made my life.

May started out shitty with a Nor'Easter. And painting. Always painting. Staircases, trim, touch up paint. Two new air conditioning units, new carpet on the top floor, new contact paper on the wall up there, and the discovery that Luigi's was under new ownership and would become one of our favorite restaurants. Memorial Day was cold with the exception of Sunday. Like, wearing knit hats on Monday night cold.

June was my brother's birthday and doing the rides with Lola, a visit from Mom & Rich and trip to the Deauville, my 40th weekend with my girls, an ill-fated trip to Fortescue and the attack of the green flies from hell, late Saturday nights fishing in Corson's until the light died, late lingering Sundays spent down in the North End, and settling into summer weekend routines with the start of the weekly rental season.

July 4th fell on a Tuesday and that week was the most nuts I have ever seen the shore even though the weekend before it was so cold we were all bundled up on the boardwalk. On the actual 4th I sequestered myself in our apartment until it was time to go home. We were away for two weekends and Michelle held down the fort, then the last weekend was a major monsoon event so I sent MFD down to do turnover and stayed home.

August was new lamps, new homemade soap with soap labels, new cushions for the porch chairs upstairs, new beach cart, a college reunion, Marla sighting, cousin time, fireworks, Friday afternoons off, a surf show on the boards, and actual surfing for MFD.

Sweet, sweet September. The end of the weekly rental season. The time to reeeee-lax. And this year, the time to say goodbye to sweet Geege. It was also the Classic Car Show and the Corvette Show, new bedding, new lamps, new carpet on the steps, MFD's 40th over Labor Day, an extra long weekend at the end of September that felt like summer, a trip to Cape May, riding on the new roller coaster, and the meeting of Bruce Springsteen.

And here we are in what is technically now our third October. We did the Block Party and Laura and Chris came for a quick visit. Bruce Springsteen loves the beach. I am pretty set on an every other weekend at the shore schedule from now until whenever we need to close it for the season, which is only when the pipes are in danger of freezing. Otherwise we layer up and use ceramic heaters.

As I looked over these pictures on a little walk down memory lane for the past shore year, I alternately thought I can't believe this is my life/this is my fucking life and I love it.

It still feels like a dream a lot of the time. The battles with VRBO do not, however. Our listing is still up there but I'm hoping to switch full time to Shore Summer Rentals in the future. We have three weeks rented for next year, which is awesome.

And I have a library card. And favorite restaurants. And we know shop keepers. We are building our community there and I love it.

People remark that it seems stressful at times. And it is, sure, specifically the hours between 10 am and 3 pm every Saturday in the summer. Even that is mostly self-inflicted, because it's about me wanting things to be perfect for people checking in even though I know perfection is an unattainable illusion. But the minuscule amount of stress is worth it a million times over.

See one year anniversary post here.