A list by Olive, Age 5 months
I'm sitting in the Learning Resource Center on campus. Having completed the written portion of the French test I missed while in Boston, I am waiting until the professor is free and can read the listen-and-understand portion of the test. 70 minutes until that happens. There's free wifi, which is great, but I only have 10% of my iPhone battery left. Which is un-great. So I'm writing in my notebook instead.
Boston was fun, but not as FUN! as we had hoped. Boston, in and of itself, was a tad disappointing, actually. No one talks with a funny accent (save the few vendors in the heavily-touristy areas that I'm certain were hired actors). The historical buildings were pretty, but very well-kept and not looking old at all.
Damon and I got a vacation rental instead of a hotel, which not only saved us money but also gave us each our own room and a full kitchen. The rental was located in the very artsy (read: lesbian) little community of Jamaica Plain. It was a few miles from city center, but very close to the subway. I would definitely stay there again if I ever found myself back in Boston.
(Someone just brought hot ramen into the study area -- I do not miss the smell of being young and broke. Yech.)
We got tickets to see Swell Season in concert, and because we bought them the night before the show meant we magically got front row seats. I would highly recommend the front row, if you can swing it.
A security guard told us that professional photography wasn't allowed without a press pass, and that our cameras classified as professional because the lenses were exchangeable. He finally told us to not over-do it and respect the artists. We got some great shots, enjoyed the wonderful music and the energy of the musicians.
We took a ferry one day to the very tip of Cape Cod and spent the afternoon wandering through Provincetown. Then night fell and we thought it would be "fun" to walk to the beach before catching the ferry - it was only about a mile on the map. Only the map had been squished, drastically misrepresenting the distance to said beach.
And when people talk about the blackness of night? It doesn't get like that in Alaska. But in Massachusetts? On Cape May? It very much does. The crickets sound like Hollywood sound effects, and when noises rustle in the trees Damon screams and Valette almost pees her pants. It was pretty "fun".
Most of the way through our stay in Boston we discovered that the city publishes a list of abandoned properties! With addresses! It was a gold mine for our photography instincts, so we packed up our equipment and my iPhone GPS and headed out.
One our way to one such building, we were stopped by a man named Thomas. He had some questions about his camera as well as some tips on where to jump fences. We spent a good bit of time with Thomas talking nerd-photography talk on the sidewalk outside his store. It was a really great random connection, and I completely forgot to give him my card, so have no way of contacting him. And the fence-hopping tips he gave us were spot-on, resulting in an awesome shooting location.
I had a great time reconnecting with Damon, and we didn't try to kill each other. Not even once.
I should do this vacationing thing more often.
It's Melissa's anniversary today, and I'm feeling wholly unprepared. I don't have something ready to post, don't have a photo to go along with it, and am having to type this on my iPhone. The biggest reason I decided to go on this Boston trip in September was for her anniversary, a way to celebrate her life. And yet the anniversary has seemed to sneak up on me.
When Lacey died this summer, the grief of Melissa's death returned to help me grieve Lacey. Is this what subsequent periods of grief will be like? Shadows of past grief returning as bit parts of the experience? But it did help remind me that things get easier, things get better, I get better.
I miss my sister just as much as I did the day she died, but the ache isn't as sharp or consuming. I would still give anything to have her back.
rhapsodic.org is a weblog by Valette McLay.
Valette has lived in Alaska all of her life and loves the ocean, being barefoot, the way Steve eats fried rice, and snorgling Olive's neck fur.
