The Grass Whistled

This weekend was full of fun surprises!

On Friday, David picked me up and we drove down to Madison, CT, for the fireworks show. Let me just say, I have NEVER had a plated hamburger two feet from the ocean, let alone watched a fireworks show two feet from the ocean. It was super sneaky fun and so so relaxing. Afterward, David drove me home and we swung by some houses we're looking at later this week. He may never know how much that time with him meant to me, but it was really perfect.

On Saturday, I drove down to David's and we headed out to Mystic Seaport, CT, for the 4th of July events. Mystic is an old seaport town and we celebrated the 4th of July in 1876 style! As the reenactment at the town square was taking place, I excitedly said, "Wow, David, we're celebrating the 4th of July as it was on the Centennial!" To which he started laughing and said, "Um, sweetie, yes, that's why everything says 1876." Duh. Hahaha. Aaaanyhoo, we finished off the day by walking around Downtown Mystic (YAYsuperfunshopping) and eating Mexican food at Margarita's Restaurant. We also may or may not have had fried ice cream. Oh, and we saw the Mystic Pizza Parlor, as in the Mystic Pizza movie. Cool. VERY VERY FUN. Third best date ever. And Sarah, place #2 on my map is finished!

On Sunday, David picked me up for church. We went to church, and on our way back to my house to get my running clothes we stopped by a bike shop. Three hours and a billion miles later, I decided I liked Bike #3! It was super fun and super FAST, which really, it's all about the speed. And the color. I know, I know... bike afficianodos everywhere, I give you permission to cringe at my bike assessment. Well, even though it was a great bike, we all know I just can't make a decision that quickly, so we took a bike break and went to get my running clothes. Here's where it gets interesting :) We stopped by the Deli to get a picnic lunch. Closed. We headed to Cosi to get delicious delicious chickenthingies. YUM. We headed to the park with our delicious delicious chickenthingies, took a snooze and played Frisbee. Ok, so that last part is sort of a fib. David played Frisbee and I attempted to toss and catch this white plastic circle back and forth to him while he played Frisbee patiently. I eventually got better and he is a saint. After a few hours we packed up our things and headed to the Farmington trail for a run. David ran up ahead because I am slower and because my bottom was sore from the bike (bikes are hard) and he ran into some friends from church. I eventually caught up and as we were standing there chatting, an animal came out of the trees! At first we thought it was a little bear, but alas, it was a dog! LOL. The very wet, very dirty dog rubbed all over my legs and sat at my feet. My first thought was, "Ew, I have NO idea where this dog has been." But THEN, he looked right at me so sweetly and lifted his paw to shake. My grinch heart melted and I was so excited to see he didn't have a collar! I know, I know, that's sick, but as I was contemplating the cutest, most convincing way to ask, "David, can we keep him?" we started walking and Walker followed! Yes, I named him Walker, and yes, he followed us everywhere. As we walked, we DID debate keeping Walker, but decided we should first see if he had an owner because we are good peeps. SOOOOOOOOOO, we elicited the help of this other couple on the trail who used their iPhone to look up and call animal control. That couple went on their merry way and we went back the parking lot, with Walker in tow. When we got to the lot, an officer, Officer Brown, was waiting for us. He confirmed "the dog" to the dispatcher and she confirmed with animal control. Who knew it was such a process? It took the animal control dog lady a billion hours to get there, and in the meantime, we chatted it up with Officer Brown, listened to a police chase, met a congressman and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. Well, actually, poor David got eaten by mosquitoes. He must be sweeter than I am :) The second the dog lady got there, she said, "Oh, I think I recognize this dog," and my heart broke. He would have to go home. She "wanded" him and it turned out he had an ID Chip. She took him home to the tree farm (I might go visit that farm) and we took to the the ice cream store to mourn our loss of Walker over creamy deliciousness. Ice cream does wonders for a broken heart. While we were eating our Coconut Crunch, the dog lady called and said Ripley was safe at home. Ripley! Oh how I miss Walker Ripley. Sigh. With that news, we headed home to do the Shred. You see, with all the day's detours, we never got a full workout. And we still didn't. We sat down and fell asleep WITHOUT Shredding. What. A. Day.

So that was our crazy weekend. It was a great weekend and much needed for the two of us to spend some time together. But I'm quickly learning that all the hours of a day wouldn't be enough. And I really mean that.

As for my blog title, well, you know that little trick where you put a blade of grass between your thumbs and blow through it and it whistles? I learned it in fourth grade while I was "playing" soccer for AACS (think back to Frisbee...I'm not too good at organized sports so I had to find other ways to occupy my time on the field). Well, I kept trying to make the grass whistle here and it never worked. Ever. And every time I tried it, it made me more sad. I know that might seem small and silly, but with all the changes that have taken place recently, that was one more little reminder that although I am beginning a wonderful new life, not everything will be the same. I struggled with this a lot over the past week, but yesterday, God used His creation and a fourth grade soccer trick to show me that in His timing, even the grass will whistle. Sometimes you just have to adjust the grass.