Girlfriends

Jake, pretending to be a Knight.

We’ve been here in Atlanta a few days and I’m sorry to say I don’t have many pictures to show for it.  Jake has been on a whirlwind with his cousins.  I think he might be driving Carter a little crazy, but true to form, Carter just takes it in stride and does whatever Jake wants.  Caitie has played hostess and made Jake dinner and she’s made him muffins twice for breakfast.  They are great kids and it’s been really fun to get to know them a little better.

Carter had a baseball tournament this weekend (and won!) so we spent a little time at the ball park but we also took some of that time to visit a really close friend of mine and her family.  Jake took to her oldest son the minute we got there and they had a blast.

Seeing Cayce reminded me of one of the things I miss most being out cruising…girlfriends.  Don’t get me wrong or read too much into this, I love my family.  Every time we come home, that’s who I want to see.  But if you think about it, we haven’t lived near our family in 15 years (for Andy, longer).  I guess you could say that we’re kind of used to missing them and having to make time to visit and go see family.  But friends, well, you always have friends wherever you move…you have neighbors, work friends, other parents, etc. that you talk to day in and day out.  THAT is what I miss on the boat.  Not just people in general, but people you really like and chose to be with.

After going to a potluck with a ton of cruisers one day, we got back to the boat and I started to “debrief” Andy J.  He said to me, “wow, you’ve gotten caddy!”

“No, I haven’t ‘gotten’ caddy….I’ve always been caddy.  I just had girlfriends to be caddy with.  You didn’t have to hear about it.  Congratulations!  Now you have to be my girlfriend too. “

While this was all done in good fun, it was true.  We each have to play new roles with each other that we may or may not have thought through before hand.  With all that said, Andy and I are closer than ever and I wouldn’t trade it for the world….just something to think about if you’re considering embarking on a similar journey.

Here's what Andy misses the most...
our Big Green Egg (lovingly being taken care
of by Cayce and Mike)

Here are some pictures of Jake and his new friends getting to know each other.  I'm not sure they could have packed any more fun into one day.  Enjoy!