Happy Independence Day

There is a place way out of the way... where there is no guarantee of running water... or flushing toilets. But you will always find friends and family, or is it friends who have become family? You might be required to walk down broken steps, and there might not be lights to guide you back to your car at night. But it doesn't matter. The cabin on the lake was purchased by family friends years ago, from (I can't believe I remember this) a little old lady who kept her porcelain doll collection on the wonderful ledge above the closet in the kids room.
Of course, we turned this doll-ledge into a fort. Amy and I spent hours upon hours on that unfinished space in our imaginations. It was our tree house...our shipwrecked island...a boat...a castle turret...an apartment in the city.
The ledge no longer exists. In fact, the kids room is not the temporary entrance into the cabin. But I cannot walk through that space without the echos of my childhood ringing in my ears.
Yesterday, Sparky and I walked through the time-warp and into a new era. The NEW cabin.
The cabin has been in the process of renovations for two years. We laughed as we recalled the owner's promise of it being finished last Fourth of July. Ha! It still isn't done. Unless you like that exposed wire/insulation/framing stud look.
They have added onto the back of the place to create two new bedrooms and a new master bath upstairs, and a new kitchen, half bath, utility room, and living room downstairs. It is quite a change from the two bedroom, one bath cabin with about 2 square feet of counter space in the living room/dining room/kitchen combo.
We might have all gotten older, and we no longer have a raised fort to play in (although I am sure KDB could build us one) but one thing that has not changed is the feeling of family out at the lake. Everyone pitches in and brings food. When inquiring about recipes, they were nearly all from someone else in the group. Why mess with a good thing?
We spent the day relaxing on the new patio, with old friends, new magazines, in old chairs. We went for a boat ride in the old boat (just broken in) to look at all of the new houses on the old lake.
We were missing some important people yesterday, but other plans sometimes get in the way. I look forward to more weekends at the lake to spend time with the people who weren't there.
The fireworks were spectacular. For the first time, we were able to watch from the patio instead of the dock. Being able to see the fireworks in the sky and reflected in the water was amazing. Twice as good.

And this was followed up with today's experience. We went to Madison to the boat regatta again. It was hotter than hell. Literally. I thought I was going to spontaneously combust in the heat. If you know me in real life, you know that I do not deal with heat well. I am not sure if it is the heat that bothers me so much, but the humidity. I was so hot I don't really remember what happened.
Sparky assures me that I had on my "grumpy pants."

Then I got home... and I got the mail from yesterday, because I am on top of stuff like that. And I had a letter from my school corporation, letting me know what school I am going to be in next year.
I think I must just be having a bad day. I burst into tears. I don't want to change schools. But I do, for new experiences. I don't know what grade I will teach. I don't know the people there. What if they don't like me? (Because I am 3 years old.)
So I have to call my new school tomorrow to see if I need to start researching the standards for a new grade level or if I can just plan ahead for one of the ones I actually have taught before. I am nervous.