Back to the summer weather. Last weekend was a perfect summer weekend. I had a picnic in the park (Shake Shack burgers!) with my girlfriends, Barbara and Jen, (see photo below.) followed by some shopping at Sephora and some clothing stores. Then, after some girl time with Paola, we headed to a balcony barbeque at Yadh's apartment with Guillaume.
At the BBQ, we met an interesting couple who had just gone on a hot air balloon ride in Clinton, NJ. They had a blast and the photos were excellent. My parents might do this one day. I hope they do.
Last Sunday was spent at the Long Beach on Long Island. For
some reason, I love the beach. It's one of the only places that I can feel totally relaxed. For me, I think it's the sound of the water and the cool breeze. I also enjoy reading, and the beach is a great place to do that. So, we took the (crowded) train there and hung out by the water until the evening. After that, we went out to dinner in our neighborhood. All in all, a perfect weekend.
I wanted this weekend to be more of the same. Elaine and I were supposed to go to P.S. 1 in Long Island City and then Water Taxi Beach, but it didn't work out. Instead I spent some time at the excellent public pool in my neighborhood (which has a Keith Hering mural from 1987) and shopped for Roller Blades. If it doesn't rain, I'll use them tomorrow.
I finally learned how to roller blade near Canal Lachine while we were in Montreal a few weekends ago (see photo of us in front of the canal below). This is a big deal because I've been trying to learn how to rollerblade since high school. Let me tell you that Randolph, NJ is not the ideal place to learn to roller blade as it is filled with giant hills that spell certain death when you are on roller blades and have not learned how to use the brake. At that time, I tried anyway because I thought that my years of roller skating in the 80s would be enough of a prerequisite.
Well, just like skiing isn't the same as snowboarding, roller skating and roller blading aren't very related. In the middle of a long hill, I ended up jumping into the grass to try to stop and executing a very ungraceful landing. Despite several years of roller skating birthday parties and all the experience one gets from that, I decided back then that rollerblading was way too scary for me. When I told this to Guillaume about a decade later, it wasn't good news as he loves rollerblading. So, I decided to give it another whirl a couple of weekends ago.
Even though I have a good idea about how it works now, I'm still sticking to flat terrain, and I'm excited to have gotten that far. I'm going to test them out on the bike path near the Hudson River. I could even rollerblade to work if I wanted to!
Anyhow, I digress. The reason I started writing is to announce that my grandma's house has been officially sold. This is a bittersweet occasion and an end to a chapter of my life. I am glad that my parents and my aunt and uncle won't have to put any money into the place in order to sell it, but it's weird to think that another family will be living there. I feel kind of silly even saying that, but it's true.
As I've said before, that house has been a second home to me ever since I can remember. Though it was far away, we made journeys there at least a few times a year. My sister and I both were babies while my grandma lived in that house. Since my sister and I are so far apart in age, it's rare to find a commonality like that. But now that's over. It's someone else's house now.
I feel lucky, though, that I was able to enjoy my grandmother through my early 30s and that she was able to keep her house until she passed the 90-year mark. I'm proud of her for maintaining her independence and fighting for it right to the end. Though, it made things difficult for us much of the time.
It's sad to see the end of an era, but I suppose it has to happen at some point. I already miss knowing that the house in Canfield is still there, all in tact just as it has always been, waiting for me to come home.
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