Weekend of Goodbyes - part 2

This weekend is what we will look back on when we think about missing home. For Christmas, Justin, his sister, her partner & I, booked a weekend away for Justin's parents and four of us. It was a beautiful cottage on a lake, rustic enough to remind us we weren't at home but bougie enough to include a hot tub, sauna, multiple fire pits and all sorts of gear for outdoor activities that were absolutely not possible in -30 degree weather. Everyone is interested in booking the place again when it's warmer.

It was one of those weekends that was a delightful mix of everyone being together, good food, lots of drinks, and mildly unfortunate but ultimately hilarious and memorable events. It all started before we got there. Justin's dad's phone geolocated the address wrong, and they inadvertently tried to break into someone else's place. Don't worry, they are terrible burglars. They didn't make it past the gate of the wrong address. Shenanigans continued when, during the coldest night Nova Scotia has seen in 50 years, the pipes froze. Luckily, the Airbnb hosts were incredibly responsive and apologetic about the whole situation, bringing us water, more wine, and baked goods. We weren't able to get things fully restored, but they finagled a work around that mostly fixed the situation. Don't worry, it didn't slow down the party.

We had decided early on that we would take this weekend as an opportunity to celebrate every holiday and special occasion that we are going to miss (for those of you keeping track, its all of them. We are about to start missing all of the holidays). I think we made it through everything: Christmas, new years, valentines, thanksgiving, Halloween, and birthdays. Everyone got really into it and brought decorations & activities & festive foods. Except for Justin & I, we really phoned ours in. I did make a birthday cake though.

It does seem to me that Justin & I are not the only ones living in a state of denial about the realities of leaving. I think everyone this weekend is in the same situation. Normally I would ask how pervasive a false reality needs to be before it just becomes reality. But this time I will just declare goodbye weekend #2 to be a rousing success and pretend I haven't noticed we have less than 2 weeks to go.