Summer

As it has been for everyone, summer has been crazy! It's the first summer since moving here where we actually have real friends here and things to do! We've gone camping, spent numerous hours drinking and chatting at the American Legion, had cookouts withe friends, spent time with eachother, and of course going up to the good old hometown for Grandpa's 80th birthday party! Tonight though, it took me back to when I was younger, enjoying the summer and a small-town fair. We went up to my friend K's house to go her town's yearly fair. All the proceeds go to the local fire department and pretty much every person in the town takes most of the week off, because of course, the fair is in town. So we get up there and head straight to the fair. We walk over there, no driving necessary. You can smell the cotton candy and funnel cake. You can hear the "chha-shh" of the hydraulics (or whatever) of the rides. You hear people throwing dimes into dishes to try and win them, you see the kids begging their parents for another quarter to throw and try to win a goldfish. There's the firefighters scooping icecream, the wives flipping burgers. It was my childhood coming back to me. The only thing missing were the horse-pulls and auction. I mean this thing even had the creepy carnies! haha! We walked around munching on fries, hamburgers, icecream. We saw people that we've met through K. Her grandpa aka Pap was across the fairgrounds chatting with a lady, basically shoved her aside and walked on over with open arms to give me a hug and my love a handshake. He of course had a dirty joke already to tell us and told K that she had good friends. As we walked away he hugged me again, shook my loves hand and then turned to me and said "love ya, honey". These people have become my Pennsylvania Family. We walked back over to the house, sat on the back deck with a slight breeze in the air, the fireflies out lighting up the yard, and music in the air for the band playing at the fair. I stopped talking for awhile. Listened to my love tell jokes to K. I love her laugh. It's one of those contagious laughs. I am happy. I am thankful. Everyday I'm thankful for my love, my family, my friends at home. But I'm finally finding a place where I can fit, belong and be myself too. There is comfort. We leave to head home, taking the winding backroads home, my love falls asleep, I am lead home by the curvy roads lit up by the half-full moon. Tonight is what summer is all about. Sometimes we forget this. We feel we've got to keep moving, do this do that, it's nice out gotta be productive. But even if it's just one night, we got to go to a fair, enjoy very unhealthy, yet delicious food and have a few beers and laughs on a back porch of a friends house. Tonight is one of those nights where I beg for summer not to end.

All my love,