Whether or not I’m headed back to school, the week after Labor Day always induces this sense of anxiety and transition that no other time of year induces. I think 80% of that anxiety is the thought that my consistent weekends on the Cape are coming to a close. This year, I was desperate to squeeze one last weekend of “summer” in my favorite place before entering Boston College Football Tailgate season (#goeags).
I’m very lucky that my parents now live full time on the Cape and I spent this last summer down there pretty much every weekend. Even when I couldn’t spend the whole weekend, I’d find a way to sneak down for a night or a day. I’m going to give you a rundown of how Sarah’s Summer 2019 Weekends went down. Don’t worry, I made sure last weekend was no different.
Summer Friday’s! I leave work sometime in the afternoon, hoping to beat the traffic, but never beating the traffic. I spend 2+ miserable hours in the car, catching up on podcasts, listening to Lover (shout out to my girl Tay for realizing a killer album), or calling my grandma (Hi, Jonesy!).
Finally, I arrive to my Dad working in his office, surprised (literally, every weekend) to see me, asking if I was able to scoot out of work early today (the man asks the important questions!), then going back to his zoomed in screen where the font seems to read 24pt. I saunter away, and unload my arms full of bags, shoes and laundry.
I usually find my mom somewhere in our backyard chatting with whichever neighbor or family friend she invited over that day or weekend. My mom, being my biggest fan, is MUCH more excited to see me than my dad. I greet her and her friend-of-the-day and of course the obvious first question is something like “How’s work?.” Before I can answer, my mom interrupts, “Oh, Sarah, do you have the bag? Get the bag. Deb, you gotta see this bag- it’s REALLY nice.” She’s talking about my Ainslie Tote in Sunkissed Blue of course! I dutifully grab my tote, which looks effortlessly perfect filled with all my work stuff. I brag about how our knitters spend 10 hours per bag hand-knitting these beauts, then open it up for a “wow” reaction to the beautiful fabric inside. Feeling all proud of STIK and the brag-worthy sh*t we create, I march upstairs to dump my stuff and lay on my bed for however long I can get away with it.
Friday night, tired from the week, I had just dinner and watched Tonight Show recordings with my parents. We went to one of our favorite spots for dinner on the water, Sesuit Harbor Cafe, in East Dennis. Sesuit Harbor is Cape Cod in a nutshell for me. After waiting about an hour in line, you order from a shack and find a spot at a picnic table. You can BYOB and my mom always packs a whole spread- tablecloth, cheese and crackers, a candle, the whole shabang. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is even better. After watching the sunset, we made our usual stop at my former place of employment, Sundae School Ice Cream Parlor for one last raz-oreo in a sugar cone. Then on home to Jimmy.
Saturday is where the fun starts. Last weekend the whole crew came down! My brother and sister-in-law, my new niece (!!!) and my other brother and his girlfriend joined us on Saturday morning. With the arrival of baby Isabella, my mom and I weren’t quite motivated to do anything but snuggle with her and watch her every move. We spent the day doing just that while lounging around. When Isabella was sleeping, I snuck in a couple chapters of Educated. I’m hooked!
Around dinnertime, my dad and brothers handled the grill while my mom whipped up everything else. My parents do this thing where they get hooked on a set menu for the summer. I swear they think up a meal for Memorial Day weekend and that’s what we eat when they cook every weekend following. It’s delicious and home cooked so I’m certainly not complaining! This summer was filled with corn on the cob, grilled meats, and a bean salad that was insanely delicious.
After a long dinner and a couple heavy pours of wine, I get up and announce that I’m going out to a bar to meet my friends. For some reason this is another point of consistent surprise for my family. Do they think I get all dressed up, looking cute, for them? Do they think I don’t have friends to meet? Not sure, but one thing is for sure - I was pretty proud of my “last-Saturday-of-summer” outfit. It obviously centered around my favorite Jane Earrings in Lapis. You can’t go 5 feet without getting a compliment on those things! It was a little chilly so I threw on these fun jeans from Anthropology and a classic Sarah Jackson white t-shirt (photo below for reference). Let’s just say the nights out in the Cape are always fun.
Sunday mornings, my dad always, always, makes us breakfast or picks it up from Great Island Bakery in South Yarmouth. Then, we take way too long to decide what everyone is doing for the day (the answer is always going on the boat). And then, we take way too long to mobilize from breakfast to the boat. It consistently takes us at least an hour to get from decision to execution. This doesn’t bother me or anything ;).
We enjoyed our day on the water and I spent the afternoon soaking up as much sun as I could before heading back to the city in the early evening. Leaving the Cape is never easy, but I feel very lucky that I’m always looking forward to work on Monday, even if it’s the end of the summer.
