i should have thought twice about this

The last time Rachel‘s sister-in-law Rachel and I interacted, we were communicating via aggressive cameraphone shots on Rachel (the blogger)’s cell phone. So it’s only natural that she and I would rent a car and drive 6 hours together Thursday night in order to visit with our only amicable link, with the inevitable return trip on Sunday.

I could not have made a more rash or foolish decision. Rachel (blogger) and I had been talking recently, and she’d extended an invitation for a weekend visit at her family’s lake house with her husband, Matthew. I’m sure she’s regretting this as well. Because little did she expect me to actually take her up on it–it was probably one of those “Oh, yeah, we’d love for you to come . . . You should . . . Yeah, um, if you can. I mean, if it’s not really expensive or time consuming. Sure, if you want” invitations. But in a random act of “spontaneity”–planned a week in advance–I took her up on the invite.

The car ride was interminable. There was no talk about a shared interest in movies, or books, or anything else. No singing along to the radio. It was a painful 6+ hours.

animosity grows, part 1

We fought over which way to go.

animosity grows, part 2

We fought over what to listen to.

animosity grows, part 3

And then we settled into a stony silence.

and we bedgrudingly ate a meal together

Later, we stopped for food and bedgrudgingly ate at this small Irish hamburger joint together.

Finally, at 1 in the morning, we arrived at the lakehouse. Rachel and her husband, Matthew, welcomed us and we all promptly went to bed. The next day was idyllic, sitting by the lake stitching/reading/knitting, lazing in the heavenly lake, and trying our best to overcome our differences.

an interloper in our midst

floating on friday

stitching & knitting

(Yes, I’m cross-stitching while Rachel knits. I’ve been very distracted from knitting, and cross-stitch offers me just the right amount of meditative action while affording me absolutely zero creativity–just what I wanted this summer.)

Next up: Minty takes a sail, Rachel Sr and I finally overcome our differences, and we sadly leave Lake Winnipesaukee.

18 Responses to i should have thought twice about this

  1. matt says:

    “Finally, at 1 in the morning, we arrived at the lakehouse. Rachel welcomed us and we all promptly went to bed.”

    I am, apparently, chopped liver.

  2. Rachel says:

    Oh yes, what fun. You should come back next year. I mean, if it’s not too time-consuming or expensive. I mean, we haven’t really set the dates we’ll be up there yet…so, I’ll just let you know…assuming you don’t already have plans. I’ll definitely be in touch. You know, at some point.

    Silly girl, of course it was a real invitation! And we had a blast!

    By the way, I’m glad my new BR shirt got some good blog exposure. :)

    Finally: what the heck am _I_ going to post, now??

  3. stacey says:

    yes – all so miserable… :) I used to only live minutes from Lake W – haven’t been back in a while….looks peaceful (after the ride up that is!)

  4. Brill says:

    Huh. You seem to have begun to have Rachels the way I once had Erins. How ironical. (And we all took the LSAT! But I bet they both scored higher than I did.)

  5. Laura says:

    Considering that you’re blogging about this, I can only assume that you survived the road trip without Rachel, Sr. killing you. Seriously, she looks like she’s about to whack you on the head with that iPod.

  6. Haley says:

    Rachel Sr must have at least a sense of humor since she let you take all those pictures. Her glares seem too intense to be real–she’s playing it up for the camera, right? hope so. glad you had fun. the lake looks beautiful!

  7. earthchick says:

    Favorite picture – you and Rachel Sr. in your stony silence. Very cool auto-pilot car Rachel Sr. has. I also love how, in the picture where the three of you are trying to overcome your differences, blogging Rachel smiles sweetly at the camera while you and Rachel Sr. maintain your frosty composure.

    Oh, and I’m happy to see evidence that blogging Rachel not only still lives but also knits! (because all my blog-stalking of her has been turning up nada)

    But I’m still insanely jealous that the two of you meet up like every other weekend or so.

Leave a Reply to Laura Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *