5 Years

 

A lot has happened in the five years since we walked down the aisle and said, "I do" to each other........ a house renovation, three different dogs, a cat, two kids, a doctoral degree.  I remember  being asked by a therapist, "where would you like to see yourself in five years?".  I was in my thirties, in a dysfunctional relationship and I really couldn't see that far through the murkiness and uncertainty.  But if I had been asked on my wedding day where I thought I'd be today, I could only have dreamed that it would be where I am right now.  I couldn't be happier to have married John Abbott.  He's the best friend I've ever had.  He adores me and teaches me so much about what I need to do to be a better person.  He is playful, adventurous, funny, thoughtful, smart, and he makes me so incredibly happy.

With all that has happened in the past five years, there hasn't been a whole lot of time for us to focus on us.  We juggle work, children, exercise, friends, individual and couple time constantly.  Usually, it's the "us" time that gets pinched the most.  So, I decided we should try to get away on a mini anniversary trip to celebrate five years.  Knowing that it is a lot to ask anyone to watch two small children, we planned our escape to cover a day when both kids would be covered by daycare and only entailed a 45 minute drive.  We decided to return to the Inn at the Round Barn Farm for a night (and two days of skiing).  

Bumpa and Grandma took the bait (an offer to stay with two of their adorable grandchildren) and we booked the night months ago.  We crossed our fingers that the snow gods would bless us with copious amounts of snow, but we also hoped that the kids would be healthy.  After a rocky late January and early February, we thought we were in the clear...... until I got the call that Cally had a fever the day before vacation started.  Long story short, she had that same persistent cough, brought her to the doctor, lungs sounds were clear, but the fever wouldn't shake.  So on the day Grandma and Bumpa arrived, John brought both kids back to the doctor and confirmed that Cally had pneumonia AGAIN!  Hazen, at this point, was coughing (or a better descriptor would be barking) too, so we had him checked, but he was fine.  Last time Cal went on antibiotics for pneumonia, the cough cleared up within a day, so I was hopeful the same thing would happen.

Unfortunately, it didn't.  The kids kept my parents up the first night they were here (before we left) and really tested the grandparents stamina the night we were away by both coughing and even having Hazen join them in bed in the middle of the night (a VERY infrequent occurrence)-- continuing to cough on them and squirm around.  By the time we returned after skiing the following day, they were ready to curl up and go to bed.  But they couldn't for long because it was Bumpa's Birthday:

But even though they were exhausted and worked by our kids, they continued to be amazing grandparents to these guys:  

Bumpa explaining what the word "altruism" means

Grandma playing with Lincoln Logs

Bumpa reading silly stories to Hazen

Grandma and Cally made Bumpa's birthday really special by making a Pineapple Upside Down Cake and making lots of homemade cards.  The adults went out to a great dinner and Cally and I took Bumpa skiing at Sugarbush the day after his birthday.  At 74 he's still getting after it on the slopes!  He wears the same jacket he's had since the 80's, but he made Cally's day by taking a few runs with her!

I'm so happy to have gotten to get away for a few days with the love of my life.  We rode dozens of lifts together in a snow storm, we skied until our legs could hardly ski anymore, and we got to re-experience the Inn at the Roundbarn in a way that we couldn't during our wedding.  We arrived to freshly baked cookies at 3:30pm, they gave us a 4 pack of Heady Topper, and we hung out by the fire eating house smoked salmon and pickled onions before heading out to a romantic dinner at the Common Man.  We slept like we haven't slept in years and enjoyed a delicious breakfast before hitting the slopes for more fresh snow!

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to get away and to have parents who are willing to help us make that happen.  I know that the kids loved having them all to themselves and I'm certain that they all got to know each other in ways that they can't when John and I are around.  Unfortunately, Bumpa is already down with a sickness that is likely to have been passed on to him by our kids.  Perhaps, if we ever get the opportunity to do something like this again, we'll have to do it in the summer, when it's not the season of icky ick!