Dearest Rachel –
I thought it was the wind waking me up this morning around four, like it has been for the last few days. It’s been blowing pretty hard in the mornings, and with it whipping all manner of leaves up throughout the neighborhood, it often sounds like rain against the roof and walls of the bedroom annex. Still, while the wind does bring a chill to the air that interferes with my already shaky motivation, it isn’t as annoying as rain itself; I can walk through it without fearing the dirty spots rain makes on my glasses. Besides, I was awake thanks to it; I might as well do something productive with my time, apart from setting up the bedroom computer to generate more pictures of you (which it doesn’t need me around to do once I’ve given it instructions).
However, it turned out to be a combination of both wind and rain, albeit less of the latter and more of the former. It wasn’t enough that my cap couldn’t keep off my eyes, but it was a further challenge to someone like myself who insists that he’s not obsessed with this health regimen, he’s just trying to establish a habit. The weather has finally dropped into true fall, with the last few days reaching into the sixties abruptly ending, and the establishment of an atmospheric state in the forties at best for the foreseeable future. It’s understandable, given that we’re more than halfway through November, but it’s still not preferable to the first few months of this year, which I spent in near-tropical weather despite it being February, March and April.
It got me thinking about my future plans. You wouldn’t believe how many people ask me these days where I plan to travel to next. I guess after taking such an extended tour (especially on a relative whim like I did, despite the fact that it took months to actually make all of the appropriate arrangements), people expect me be traveling like that on a regular basis. And to be fair, that’s a reasonable assumption to make, since I clearly have a taste for the process, and I have sufficient reserves of time, money and energy that so few manage to achieve in their lifetimes, unfortunately…
…it looks like my next trip is the one that’s supposed to be your last, you know. I’ve discussed it with the girls – and while I can’t finalize it with the owners of the cottage, I’ve basically got it sewn up – and they’ve confirmed it on their schedules (at least, the ones who have to request the time this early). So, come May, we should be heading out there one last time, to drop you off as you requested.
And as I’m walking through the mist and cold of the morning, I’m wondering whether this is a good idea. Sure, it makes sense to choose an appropriate day to do this – and as far as significant days in your life, I can’t think of any more so than your birthday or our anniversary, and at least one of the girls nixed the latter – and it’s easy to get a booking at the cottage for either of those days.
But… there’s a reason for that. The fact of the matter is, both of those dates fall during the off season. Now, for us to take a trip outside of the summer months is no more difficult than any other – none of us is in school (or has kids who are), and the challenge of getting off of work is basically the same regardless of the season (apart from certain busy seasons, which apparently September falls into for one of us, at least). But there’s the consideration of what caused this place to appeal to you in the first place that isn’t going to be available to us in May – or at least, I don’t think it’s going to be.
Namely, it’s going to still be cold there, especially in the water, which was where you called home. There will likely be very little swimming done during the week, as Lake Erie won’t have had the chance to warm up for the year yet. You’ve told me that even in late June, the place wasn’t all that temperate (although you’ve been willing to swim in September or even October when we’ve gone there then with little compunction – presumably, the water takes its time cooling down once summer ends just as much as it does to warm up in the run up to summer).
To be sure, none of us are the swimming enthusiasts that you were (although that’s rather a high bar to surmount, in any event), so we may not feel like we’re missing out on all that much. But I’m not looking forward to having to get in that water to cast you off (I can only hope that your birthday is at least a sunny one there – the sun’s presence makes a world of difference), and I wonder how all of us will deal with living together for the week with little else to do, and not as much in common as we used to. If all we’re doing is thinking and talking about you, it’s going to make for a grim trip.
Now, I’d also like to be able to take a day trip or two while we’re in the area (and remember, it’ll be for the last time) to Put-in-Bay, and maybe even Cedar Point. But while Daniel and I have the kind of freedom, schedule-wise, to do just about anything, I’m not sure about how the girls would feel about those plans. Additionally, it might be that the area won’t be open during the week, either, due to it still being in that “off-season” I mentioned earlier.
And then, there’s one other event to take into consideration… Anime Central. While it doesn’t fall on your birthday, that’s only because it’s not on the weekend, but rather in the middle of the week. Two days after you would be scattered into the lake, we would ordinarily be heading to Rosemont for the event – one which, apart from the two years it was shut down due to Covid, we never missed. Would you want me to keep up that streak, or would it matter to you if I cut our trip to the island short? I mean, I’m sure it doesn’t matter to you, given where you are, but if you do follow me at all, you might have an opinion. I just wish I knew what it was; as it is, I have to weigh these timing issues into my plans somehow.
And with that, I ask you as usual to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 