By Susan Govern
Back at the beginning of summer I saw a quote I thought was interesting. It read like the first sentence of some kind of “romance” novel…”Every summer has a story”. Well – our summer is shaping up to be filled with many stories; some good and some bad.
We traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina a couple of weeks ago to enjoy sun, sand, surf and family – it was a real “family vacation”. Now if you’ve ever looked up a definition of “family vacation” on the internet, you’re liable to find this: Family Vacation (n): a time for you to remember why your family never spends any time together.
Lucky for me and my husband (and our kids), being with extended family at home or on vacation is usually lots of fun, and memorable! We actually enjoy each other and come home from family vacations with fond memories of good times and lots of laughs.
This year we came home with quite a summer story. During the middle of the week we were at the ocean, one evening within the same 45 minutes of time, two of my nieces became engaged. Their future husbands did not plan it – neither couple was aware of the other’s engagement until we all came together shortly after to celebrate.
That was just one story for this summer. The other story wasn’t quite as happy. We had been back from the Outer Banks for only four days when our son came home to his house after work and discovered a major water leak. A plastic coupling broke off and the hose that goes from the water valve to refill the toilet tank was spraying water everywhere in the hallway bathroom for quite a while. He walked into a mess on the main floor and in the basement.
Much has to be done in the weeks ahead, but thanks to a company specializing in home disasters, things have been drying out nicely and they also have contractors to repair and replace what was damaged. And so the second story of our summer will probably stretch into early autumn.
I have spent time looking back this week as we salvaged what we could of items from his basement that night. Other than some of my children’s things from their childhood, most other things stored there were of sentimental value to me alone. On a set of shelves in the basement was my packaged up wedding dress. Since the week after my wedding when I took it to a special cleaning shop to have it preserved, through all these years, I have not opened that sealed box – until this week.
As my son carried up the saturated box and asked me what it was, my heart sank and I began to cry as I told him it was my wedding gown. Standing in the front yard and putting the box on an old ironing board, my husband and son gently pulled off the cardboard while I watched.
This second story of summer has one bright spot. The inner box holding my wedding dress was sealed in plastic and only a few drops of water seeped in. Removing the plastic we discovered the main box was made of shiny material that repelled water – my dress had survived the deluge that had come through from the upstairs floor.
This will be a summertime, and a summer vacation that will definitely be remembered for good times and bad.
Our vacation provided wonderful memories of relaxing on the beach, shared laughter, the widening of our loving family circle to take in two more – much to our surprise.
The second surprise of our summertime will not be remembered with much fondness – but we will get through the work in the weeks ahead and in the end, my son will have his house back; he might even learn and grow from this experience to prepare him for any future surprises that might come his way as a home-owner.
Yes, every summer has a story. And one thing that is certain, each story that is the most memorable is the one with surprises. After all, some of the most interesting novels ever written are the ones that have twists and turns in the plot. So sit back, enjoy what’s left of summer, and when autumn is finally here you can look back and see if your summer vacation time story had some interesting surprises for you too.
