July 10, 2013
One thing I’ve found curious in my 15 years on the Shoreline: most of my friends here are surrounded by family. They left home for college or to start their careers, but wound their way back, with husbands or wives and babies in tow. I’m envious. It would be nice to have someone at the ready in an emergency or simply to take the dog overnight. But it’s more than that. Whether they get along well or not, there is an ease. They know each other. They have a family “culture”. And we don’t. So far this summer, we’ve spent time with both sides of our family.
My in-laws generously rented an enormous house in Hilton Head and invited all of us. Take twelve people who see each other once a year, caught up in their own lives and problems, stick them in a house together for a week and it’s a reality show in the making. We don’t have much in common: we’re different religions, opposing political parties, some have more, some have less. We’re still surprised by behaviors we should long be accustomed to. This time it was different. There was no drama, no blow-ups, no tears. We sat on the beach, cooked massive quantities of food, played Scrabble, watched The Voice.
Maybe the key is being together long enough to get used to each other’s idiosyncrasies (yes, mine, too!) but we all felt it at the end of the week: family. Hope you’re enjoying yours this summer.
