For the last of my whirlwind I-don’t-want-to-be-home-from-vacation-so-I’ll-pretend-I’m-still-on-vacation weekends, I snuck up to Connecticut to spend some quality time with my cousin Colin, his wife, and one of his close friends. Armed with boxes of donuts, I braved the torrential downpour of rain and made the 3 or so hour drive to their house which to me is out in the middle of the woods (or you know a 15 minute drive from Hartford).
I didn’t realize until I moved out of my parents’ place but it is rare to have people in your life that you can completely decompress around. And that it is absolutely necessary to have an outlet for silliness. At least it is for me (don't worry I am judging your lack of silly ways... I kid). Colin and I are ten months apart and share a number of what I think are endearing quirks. Case in point: you want to have an eating contest comprised of slices of pizza and holiday spice pepsi (there’s a reason only 85 people have signed that petition) and follow it up with a foot race? Of course! Even better we’ll go barefoot because it’s winter…? Mind you we had consumed no alcohol. Nada. Zip. This was pure, unadulterated genius. Pretty much whatever half-brained idea one of us comes up with the other is game. No questions asked.
When I signed up for a marathon (against my better judgment), I knew the first person I wanted to share it with was Colin because he would understand. You see it's not that signing up for a race, even this long of one, is that big of a deal per se, it's that I am by no means a runner. I get bored easily and I find running to be extremely repetitive. Also, I lack that part of the brain that works through pain - the moment running becomes even remotely uncomfortable I walk. I even walked the mile for the Presidential Physical Fitness Test in 4 out of the 5 years I had to do it. (My gym teacher loved me.) Oh and I have only run farther than 3 miles (intentionally) once in my life. Once. And there I went and signed up to run 26.2 of them.
But you know what? He totally got it. Because he's awesome. And we're weird. And maybe, just maybe, I can convince him to run it with me and then go run this a couple of weeks later because that's how we roll. Minus the eating contests this time around. Once was enough... or twice. It was repeated with a mushroom theme several years later. What can I say - we are slow learners.
Besides running through the still snowy woods (and getting lost and then found and then hills), the rest of the weekend consisted mostly of eating my weight in delicious food while chatting it up and playing games with some of my favorites in front of a roaring fire. There may have been some 90s inspired dance parties as well (because really what weekend is complete without one?)
I ended my getaway with a cruise on the Long Island Sound because sometimes the best way to reacquaint oneself with the day-to-day grind is to take the long way home. For the next couple of weeks, I am keeping my travels limited to the five boroughs and dare I say I am looking forward to it.
notes:
- if you happen to be driving on a Saturday morning (or you’re just looking for a listening activity), tune in to car talk on npr. these guys made my morning.
- i made headway on taking pictures this past weekend… i just think my family would consider disowning me if i shared all of them on the interwebs. besides which trees + snow +brooks are pretty.
- (apparently, i like parentheses. a lot.)