Monday, June 16, 2014

A Much-Needed Girls'/ Beach Weekend


Seth’s not much of an ocean person. If he has free time on his hands, he’d much rather head for a treestand than the beach. I, on the other hand, like the rest of the Walters family, believes absolutely in the zen-inducing, soul-cleansing power of waves. (Not that any of us turns our nose up at snow-capped mountains.) Still, post-blast especially, Seth’s aversion to the heat and difficulty walking on sand means that I’ve had to resign myself to a lot less beach time, and I definitely miss it. Between that and an insane week that involved Seth traveling and me working late (opposite schedules conspiring to make us short-fused and cranky), this weekend was much-needed and long-overdue.

We high-fived Thursday night when he got back, and Friday morning after yet another commander’s cup run (a “cross country run” on the golf course which saw some seriously slow jogging from me) and a painfully dull work picnic, I dove into the traffic melee that is northern Virginia on Fridays. Driving anywhere in the DMV on Friday makes it almost not worth it to leave for the weekend (and coming home Sunday is, I reminded myself, a close second.) Still, I was excited for beach time. Minus the chilly trip to Bar Harbor, I hadn't had a real ocean fix in almost a year. And I was way overdue on girl time.

So of course it was totally worth the long and painful drive. I got to see my law school girlfriends, who I hadn’t seen since Nicole’s wedding in Puerto Rico last May, and catch up on husbands and babies and the inexplicably still-intriguing law school gossip. They also threw me my very first shower of any kind, a hilarious, low key, pink-laden baby shower surprise, complete with cupcakes. (Nicole even made us play the baby food game.) And we spent all day Saturday doing nothing, a rarity for any of us, on the beach. Thunder-and-hail storms rolled in that evening, and we fled inside for bad TV and homemade marinara with herbs from Nicole’s garden.

And Sunday morning, we woke up to a beach sunrise and the sound of the waves. It was perfect. Good for the soul. And I didn’t even have to feel guilty about it, since it sounds like Seth had a terrific weekend going to the range, grilling elk steaks, and drinking copious amounts of beer with college friends. I got home last night in time to watch the Spurs win (both Seth and Dad were thrilled—Father’s Day win), so a terrific weekend was had by all.

Bring it on, Monday. Today we’re officially halfway to the arrival of Baby Nieman! Hard to believe. I’m cherishing every morning I can look down and still see my toes from here on out. I know I haven’t shared any “baby bump” pictures—I’m waiting until it looks like I actually have a baby in there, instead of like I just stopped going to the gym! Any day now…

Photo of the week is the master chef himself at the grill. Always a hit.


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