A Week in the Homeland

You guys are pretty fabulous for sticking with me though I've been so markedly absent.  In fact, my follower count has gone up, how does that make sense? My insecure self assumed that was a message that you guys like when I post less and therefore follow more, ha.

Rob's been gone since 6/23 and honestly, I know I say this every time, but it feels like it's been fucking forever.  Even Rob agrees with that assessment.  I think part of it was that the first fire he was on was in a nasty bit of terrain and the boys weren't allowed to be on their phones at all.  The other part of it was that this was his 3rd 14-day roll in like, three months and we are so fucking over it.

Anyway as I alluded to in my last post, I flew to the Northeast on the 29th for some family time.  I arrived in Boston, hooked up with my sister Megan and made the long drive downeast (stopping in New Hampshire to have lunch with my ma, of course).  I won't bore you with the details of every single day; I'll just say that it was filled with a lot of work (I was on intermittent calls for 8 hours on Monday and Tuesday), boat rides at night, swimming, booze, fireworks, family, and amazing food made by my dad.

My one regret of the visit was that I wasn't all that present, which I'm sure was relatively obvious to anyone who was paying attention.  Being home without Rob reminded me of when he was in the military, when I had to answer questions about where he was and what he was doing and whether he liked it or not.  The emerald green of the trees and the deep blue of the lake/ocean just aren't home without him. It just hurt being alone again, I guess.  Plus I was terrified that they'd come home early and I'd miss him, which happily has turned out not to be the case.  If all goes well I should see him on Sunday night or Monday at the latest. He'd tell you that this was a pretty overdramatic assessment of being without him, but he was in the middle of the desert and it's my blog so shut up Rob in my head.

Here are various photos from Megan's apartment in Boston, dad's house on the lake, Rob's parents' house on the coast, and everything in between.  Hopefully it gives you a good idea of Maine and particularly the area of Maine that Rob and I are from. I apologize that they are iPhone photos - my camera's sensor is dirty and I'll be damned if I find the time to go get it cleaned.