When the Cabin Was Full
We came home a day early from our mountain cabin this year. Jerry wanted to get a head start on some projects around the house, and honestly, it made things a little easier — especially with laundry and the start of cross country practice for our youngest. But I’ll admit… I felt a little let down. When we built the cabin five years ago, we were still in the thick of lockdown. All the kids were at home. School was remote. There wasn’t much we could do — so we made our own fun. We crammed five people and two dogs into fewer than 300 square feet, and somehow, it worked. We cooked over the fire, swam in the river, played games and laughed and dried our beach towels on anything we could find. It was chaotic and noisy and sandy — and perfect. So this year, when I carefully packed a giant IKEA bag full of towels and brought along a special octopus hanger to dry them all, I had all those memories in my head. But when we arrived, I realized: we didn’t need them. Our daughter spent he...