The Jersey Shore

 

The last of our epic summer is coming to an end. The kids and I had one last hurrah and did a week at the beach.  We rented a house in Ocean City, NJ right next door to the house my cousin and her family rented.  Getting a house at the beach is dream of mine and as long as I made it clear Jeff didn't have to step foot on the beach (he HATES sand and the ocean), he was game too.  I had been fortunate in the past to go with my mommy friends and their kids to use a relative's beach condo (two summers in a row!), but this was the first year we took the plunge and spent $$ on a place of our own for the week.

While this summer has been filled with all these amazing adventures and experiences (I promise you, I don't normally have summers like this one...EVER!), it hasn't been all sunshine and roses.

Within the past month, two of my best friends lost people close to them; Wendy lost her mother-in-law, and Jennifer lost her father.  Additionally, one of The Girls got some very upsetting medical news about her mom and another is dealing with some challening medical info about her dad.  It is hard to be happy about my wonderful summer when people I am close to are having one of their worst summers ever. 

Furthermore, Jeff lost his job two weeks ago (yes, the new one that he was at for only 3 months) and this has put a big damper on things.  He is doing a good job of holding it together for the family, but I know how terrifying it is each day for him that goes by without new employment lined up.    If there has to be a silver lining in this whole ordeal its that we did get Jeff to join us at the beach from Saturday to Tuesday evening.  And Thursday evening to Saturday.  He went back home for a day and a half for an interview.  I couldn't persuade him to go on the beach, but it was very nice having him around to join us for the rest of our activities.  This would not have been possible due to lack of accumulated vacation time if he was still at his job.  Although if you ask Jeff, he'd much rather have the paychecks coming in than be available for a week at the beach. 

So while I am having the time of my life with the kids, there is a big gray cloud over our heads reminding me that not everyone is enjoying themselves.  Especially when all of these events have happened within the last 4 weeks.  Ugh.

In my next post, I will share highlights of our week in Ocean City, NJ.  It was filled with great weather, meeting up with best friends, spending time with my wonderful extended family, and experiencing some new things we've never done before.  In a nutshell, I'd say it was winner.  Jeff may even agree to us doing this again next Summer, as long he gets a job soon.