Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Day Before Easter At The Re-purposed Nest


It doesn't take much to make me happy:  







Clean pool loungers, compliments of Lysol All Purpose Cleaner and a pressure washer, our Easter present to each other.  If Lysol would like to compensate me for the endorsement, I'll oblige.  We also pressure washed the front porch, the swing, all the furnishings on it, even the cushions and pillows, plus an anti-gravity lounger.  On the back deck, we now have a freshly cleaned table and six chairs, a metal end table, grill and decorative mini cast iron stove.    

Pressure washing's cool.  Think Beavis and Butthead in the wood shop episode.  Going a bit nuts with a pressure washer is more constructive, though, than a table saw, and at the end of the day, all our fingers were intact.  

The pool loungers, like our nest, have been re-purposed.  The above-ground pool collapsed, the second one we've had to do that, so now instead of lounging in the sun, these loungers are primarily used for viewing the stars and planets.  One iPad with a GoSky app, one blanket, one bottle of mosquito spray, one clear, starry night, and one pool lounger make for a sweet evening.

Mr. A and I bought another anti-gravity lounger at Big Lots yesterday and I commented to him we weren't going to drop about a hundred bucks on filling Easter baskets this year.  I filled Easter baskets for our sons and in time their girlfriends, even to adulthood.  Though it was a tradition I enjoyed for years, yesterday I felt liberated.  "They're making more money than we are," I said to a friend we bumped into from church. "They can fill their own Easter baskets." 


 Here's a photo of my sons and the loves of their lives the last time they were all here for Easter dinner, 2012.  For a couple of decades and then some, it was all about them.  I was fortunate they attended college and lived in the same town afterwards for one year and three years respectively.  Many parents have to get used to this part of life sooner than we have.  I'm not sure which way would be easier, but we now, like them, are learning to lead lives for two. 

Our firstborn arrived ten days after our first wedding anniversary, our second three years later.  It's taken us 28 years to get to the stage of life of discovering how two people live and love together and aside from missing the kids, we're doing a pretty good job of it.  When I was toting furniture to and fro where Mr. A was washing, it crossed my mind this must be what it's like to be newlyweds.  Having been with child just three months into a marriage, this level of freedom is new territory for us.  

Be it ever so humble, we are house proud at the re-purposed nest and get a lot of  joy and satisfaction making it clean and comfortable for the two main guests, during a first season in our married life, ourselves.