On Monday evening, Andrea and I celebrated our anniversary by dining at the Reading Room in the Bar Harbor Inn. The origins of the inn date back to 1887 and I remarked that the host and the piano player were likely original fixtures of the inn. The view from the Reading Room is lovely – it overlooks Frenchman Bay. Two older women were seated near the window and Andrea wondered aloud, “I wonder if they’re together?”
“I hope so.” I replied.
It’s nice to see older people together and imagine the storms they’ve weathered and the memories and traditions they’ve created together. It’s like a little window into your future, like, “Hey. That could be us some day!”
Yesterday, we returned home after spending a week at a cottage on the water up in Maine – approximately 20 minutes from Acadia. We walked into our home and Andrea, who has a very good nose, detected the scent of pee and traced it to a pot of soil, from a plant I’d transplanted, in our front living room. Clearly, Lola was displeased we’d left her. My mom asked how we knew Lola was to blame – the other cats are far too lazy to leap into a tall pot of soil. Cats are assholes.
While in our kitchen that evening, Andrea looked around and said, “You know you’re an adult when you go on vacation and it’s nice and all but when you return home and your place is better. It’s like my theory on renting cars. When you’re an adult, the car you own is better than the rental.” It is good to be home – our place is filled with strange, wonderful, beautiful, and unique things. I recently mentioned to a colleague that we own a taxidermied raccoon. She laughed and then realized I was serious. Even so, I pulled up a picture to show her.
We visited The Rock & Art Shop in Maine which was filled with strange, wonderful, beautiful, and unique things. I find it delightful that such shops exist. During our stay at the cottage, I slept on the opposite side of the bed that I usually stay on and offered to keep this up upon our return home. “Nah.” Andrea said, “You have all your treasures on your side.” Which is a really nice way of saying that my nightstand is bursting with stuff. Much of which is standard adult fare - - cough drops, a pen or four, books. Some of it is a little strange – so I did set about tidying it up a bit upon my return. Mainly because I was having trouble shutting the drawer. (Portion of surface pictured below).
Getting into bed last night, we were talking about what a great vacation we’d had and how it is good to be home too.
“I miss the ocean. But I’m glad I have my vacuum.” Andrea said to which I laughed hysterically. “What?! I like my little blue vacuum. It gets up the dog hair – and your jaw breaker wrappers. You should have tried sweeping up the dog hair at that cottage today. It was hard!”
When we awoke this morning, our three cats were piled on the bed with us. Two of them followed Andrea to the bathroom and when she returned, I asked, “How were your kitties?”
“Did you just ask, ‘How are my titties?!’” Andrea asked.
“KITTIES. How are your kitties?! They followed you into the bathroom.”
“Oh. Fine.” Andrea.
I know older couples help with my visualization of my future. But in reality, I think we may be a little ahead of our time what with our lack of hearing, penchant for household appliances, and 3 cats.
