This past Saturday, May 2, was our 17th wedding anniversary and I hated the thought of Sarah alone in Raleigh on such a special day. At Moose's suggestion, I invited her to come experience Spring Outing with us (and do a little work as well). She jumped at the chance to do something many mom's can only dream of doing and she loved every second of it, from the first minute on top of the shark tooth pile to the last walk on the point. She was in heaven.Needless to say, this past weekend's Spring Outing was like none other for me and the boys. Shooting Bull and Sky Walker's mother, aka The First "Squaw," was in the house; and in the mess hall; and at archery; and on the shark's tooth pile; and, yes, even on the zip line! Believe it or not, she did not cramp our YGP style in the least. If anything, she added to the experience for all of us.
Moose introduced her to the crowd at the ice cream social Friday night. The whole rest of the weekend we heard shouts of "Happy Anniversary!" from one end of camp to the other and even from high atop the zip line tower. We felt so special.It was no vacation for Mom, that's for sure. She sold shirts at the YGP store (she made the comment that some of us dads need help sizing the kids' shirts), made the rounds hiding giant fireballs (way, way past her bedtime) and was Moose's personal raft race secretary. She was a real trooper, hanging with her boys and all the craziness of Spring Outing, and earned her keep to boot. I need to get her an LBC cap!
FYI: Sarah has several Indian names. What she's called at any given moment depends on her mood, of course. Sometimes she's "Play Doe" and other times she's "Whacka Mole." The boys kept introducing her to everyone at Sea Gull as her alter ego "Flipping Bird." That's when she's, ahem, grilling bbq chicken, of course.
Our anniversary was made even more special when we slipped away from the bonfire (and the boys, thanks to Moose & Allison) for a little romantic dinner on the screened porch of London Quarters. We used a can of sterno for candlelight as we enjoyed shrimp cocktail while Standing Horse told The Tinkerer's ghost story. And to top things off, Moose and staff left us a surprise dessert of chocolate covered strawberries to enjoy with the always amazing fireworks display. It just does not get any better than that.
Sunday was sad as usual as we packed up to head back to Raleigh, but before leaving ,we took a final walk out on the point with the boys. We searched one last time for shark's teeth, avoiding the jellyfish as we walked upon the warm sand. We held hands as we strolled and I asked Sarah if she had a nice anniversary. She smiled that beautiful smile and that's all the answer I needed...How-How!
1 comment:
Great post! When we arrived home from Sea Gull back on 4/26, our Mom was ready to go for her weekend, too.
Thanks for all you do.
How How.
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