My firefighter son always comes north (from Florida) to visit at least once a year. He arrived this week, which means that three of my kids and myself are sharing space in this small house. We are on top of each other inside, but the weather has been fairly good – if you call 80’s and humid good! – so we go outside a lot and sit around my new table (that only seats two – first come first serve) or the kids go to the beach and swim. I am not so much into doing that. Crowds of summer people and local kids are not my thing. I prefer the lake in any season but summer.

A glass of Midori while I grill

It also means that I am spending large amounts of money on food and large amounts of time in the kitchen and at the grill. I always have a hard time remembering which kid likes what food. None of them are horribly picky, except the 12 year old, but I always have to ask, mostly about onions. One likes them cooked and one likes them raw. No tomatoes for either. One loves seafood, like his mom, and the other doesn’t. One loves mushrooms….and so forth. I eat just about everything, so I grill and bake around their likes.

My oldest son lives in Kentucky and we have been trying to convince him to come up too and he called the other night to tell me he is coming!! I am so excited. I haven’t seen him in over 3 years and it will be the first time in that long that all my kids have been together too. My oldest was 20 when my youngest was born so they have never all lived together. It’s very odd, but the way it turned out.

He is driving here in his Porsche and bringing an old guitar of his for my youngest son who seems to have inherited the musical talent that my other boys have. The kids are just as excited at the thoughts of spending time together. I’ve warned my landlady that it could get loud next door.

He is on his way… and they will be heading into Boston for the weekend to see the Red Sox play and just enjoy the city. Maybe they will share their photos for me to post.

I have been trying to find an air conditioner – just a small one for the front room where the sun beats in every afternoon – but there are none to be found. I hope the humidity stays reasonable, but it won’t matter really. I’ll have all my kids together, which is a rare thing for sure. I imagine they will all get on each other’s nerves and we’ll see if the oldest will actually stay the whole week or hop in his car and head back to the quiet life in Kentucky!