October 10, 2004 - Sunday
Having kids changes everything, of course, and one of the changes I regret most is their affect on this weekend, Columbus Day weekend. For more than a dozen years siblings, cousins, and friends have come, mostly in pairs, to Vermont for camaraderie, a post-college keg of beer, and to see the changing colors of autumn. Then the kids started coming. Harry was first, and by himself he wasn't all that much of a distraction. But, the mostly-hollow, wooden cabin is not an ideal place for getting a great night of sleep with multiple small children around. Any rustle can wake one up and one waking can set off a chain reaction. Perhaps more inportantly, a bunch of kids changes the dynamics of nature walks, frisbee golf, and that erstwhile keg of beer. Maybe it's not all the kids, maybe priorities change as people get older and have places to go, but the weekend hasn't been the same since the kids started coming. This year, none of the old regulars where able to come.

But, change means opportunity, too, and though I miss those carefree weekends of past years, this year turned out to be the best Columbus Day weekend in a while. Our kids are getting a little older and that can't hurt (in this context), maybe I finally got over the expecxtations of past years, and this year we got together with friends we haven't seen in more than four years, they with two slightly older (and that doesn't hurt in this context) kids of their own, and had a great time walking in the woods (that's really getting to be fun as the kids get older), drinking a little beer (sure!), and playing guitars. So, the weekend was actually a lot like it used to be, just the number of generations involved has changed.


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