It Has Been a Long Road

And just like  that, there is silence once again! It must feel powerful to control the emotions of others like that. I made the decision a long time ago to not feed into this  pathology. It is what it is!

Dad

My Dad is an amazing man and I treasure every day we have together. In my opinion, he is the strongest, the kindest, the wisest person I have ever known. He makes me feel safe in a very unsafe world and though I am no longer a little girl, I still need him in my everyday life. It was his silent strength that got me through some of my darkest days and his strength continues to carry through each day. I may not be his biological child however I have always felt his daughter. He has been by my side since I was three years old. He stepped up to the plate when my own father was serving two tours in Vietnam as a Naval Officer. My own father was a career military man and I rarely spent any time with him as I was growing up in the 60's and when I hit my teenage years in the 70's and he retired from the military, he got married., moved away and started another family. I never had the connection with my biological father as I have had with my Dad. I do not blame my father for not being with me as I was growing up. My mom and he divorced shortly after my birth and he was serving his country. He was unable to be with me and I was lucky my mom remarried a man who stepped into his shoes.

Holiday Weekend

I do not know where to begin so I will just write random thoughts with the hope my writing makes sense. I am here at the shore as I took a long weekend from work and home responsibilities. We came down Friday night and were pleasantly surprised that we did not hit any shore traffic. We stopped at Red Robin in Vineland for gourmet burgers and milk shakes as we got caught in a severe thunderstorm and decided to take a break. All in all we were in Cape May within three hours of travel time between Plymouth Meeting and Cape May. Saturday morning, my Dad came over to re-screen some screen room screens. My Dad and Bill have a wonderful relationship and it is fun watching them interact. It was not long before Grace and Sophia (parent's youngest granddaughter and great granddaughter) who have been staying at my parents' shore house in the neighborhood came over. Shortly, thereafter my niece Chrissy's three boys Joseph, Collin and Christopher popped in and all five kids went up to the loft and woke Nikolas up (my grandson). My niece Chrissy and her in-laws recently bought their own home in the neighborhood here in Cape May. That makes a total of four homes here now and it is so fun watching all the cousins together having a ball.

Nikolas is in the process of getting over an ear infection so we avoided the beach on Saturday and took him to lunch at Harbor View for crab cakes. Harbor View is probably my favorite place to have lunch out on the patio which overlooks the water filled with boats. It was the first time we took Nikolas and he really enjoyed it. It was nice watching Bill take Nikolas to the pier and point out the osprey nests and boats. After lunch we went to the grocery store to stock up on grilling meats and fresh fruits and vegetables. Generally, Bill and I grill and have everyone over for dinner however my mother wanted to cook dinner so we went over to her place Saturday night. Shortly after dinner my brother Frankie and his family arrived as they were going to spend the night at my parents' house and take Grace home on Sunday.

Saturday night,  we watched Independence Day on HBO so Nikolas could be prepared to go to the movies with Bill  Sunday or Monday to see the new Independence Day. And now it is Sunday morning and for the first time in weeks, I slept soundly and feel very relaxed  within. I am glad we still have two more days down here before heading back home to reality. I am also very happy to be in contact with Ava. She is the sweetest girl and I love her to pieces.