GHOST ACHE

     GHOST ACHE

     The ache that isn't really there

     But it is

- 18 March 2016 Friday 5:30 AM-ish
  


Excerpt text to my sister Kathryn, 19 March 2016 Saturday 8:42 AM-ish
   Hi back, Sis....Whatever bug I got hanging in after a week maybe plus. As you said you were... so tired. And ghost achey and sore stomach muscles. Need dry warmth and sunshine!...TTYL Love
   

HORSESHOE CRAB ARMAGEDDON, MERMAID REQUIEM, AFTER THE STORM, CAPE COD, MA, SEPTEMBER 2012

SISTERS GROWING UP BEACH MEMORIES

                       
    Last week my sister and I were discussing via texting who would visit whom the coming weekend:

From me to her - "If you need a change of scenery more than I do I am OK with you coming here...the beach is calling me but warmer weather is coming for that."

Kathryn to me - "...beach is calling me too..."

     Thing is, while I now and have for years lived here in suburban Milford, MA , for a while now Kathryn is living in a beach area near the state of MA and NH border.

     We were born in CT, she in 1950 and me in 1953. When I was 3 or 4 years old, our family moved to Cape Cod, MA, a working middle class area of West Yarmouth, South Sea Avenue, the road that just a mile or so away links to Sea Gull Beach. Cape Cod, MA is full of beaches. So we grew up "on the beach" at a time when Cape Cod was not nearly so built up as it is now and was much more of a Summer Tourist dependent area than perhaps it is now, although Summer Tourism is still a huge part of the area's working class economy.

    Since you understand the years in which we grew up you also know the historical times in which we grew up. At home we were taught manners, our good public education was reinforced in a variety of ways, including our ties to Nature and gardening and growing some of our own food.   

   I am not one of those people who is going to dwell in or on the past and insist that times were better then than they are now. I will just say times were different.

     I moved off Cape after college. I visited often. My sister stayed longer before also moving off Cape. Not many of our family are left there.

   We still have our house, but after a few years of trying Summer Rentals, we decided to rent on an annual basis to a family friend and family. It is a house for a family. A "special" family who appreciates the "quirkiness" of an older Cape Cod home.        

    To my sister and me, growing up on Cape Cod, Ma was "special". Cape Cod, MA is still "special". Just not "special" in the ways we remember it being "special". "Special...but Different."

     So my sister came here to suburban Milford, MA from her beach area where she is currently living for her "change of scenery, mini-vacation."

     Here is how our weekend here transpired through the lens of edited texting, before, and after...

Kathryn, coming to visit: "Might bring my teddy bear lol see you later today love K"

To Kathryn: "Teddy bears always welcome too!"                

From Kathryn, after visiting: "Hi back here...about 3:30...had a really nice time with you and (my husband) Joe and at your home would like to do that again love seeing your poetry Beth you do have a wonderful way with words chat soon Love K"

To Kathryn: "Hi Sis. Yes a lovely afternoon evening Saturday and morning early afternoon Sunday. So nice to have warmer weather and sun to open rooms closed to try and save some winter heat expenses. And vacation and dine and relax in my own living room and dining room with someone who is sympatico which is a rarity! I sat in living room by myself after you left and it was just not the same. Went upstairs to my normal haunt and realized how content I was. Nice feeling....

From Kathryn: "I can rest and relax and rest a bit weepy this morning memories..."

To Kathryn: "What memories?"

From Kathryn: "Growing up seeing the items you have from South Sea Avenue (note: our house on Cape Cod)...it is healing tears so always feel better after I cry want to come and visit again same as you about sitting in living room feels like home..."

To Kathryn: "Yes. Know what you mean. Sympatico. Growing up there were issues but always loving. Looking back (note: growing up on Cape Cod) it was really special. Still hard to let it go. You and I go back further and have memories noone else close to us has. I have told (my husband) and Courtney (Joe's and my daughter) that too. Oh dear. Now I am weepy. Changes of seasons in more ways than one. Have a good day. Keep me posted. TTYL Love"                

- Weekend of February 27 & 28, 2016

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