There was a lot of frustration in the air, mostly on my part because everybody else seemed to be having a really good time.
I mean, they should have – apparently they were in town for our wedding and we had all of our friends and extended family gathered at our home before the big day to relax and help prepare and generally celebrate, but it wasn’t just any home…
We had been on the market for a bigger home for a while and were looking for that special one to become our dream home, and although you wouldn’t have known it from the outside, this one certainly had some hidden features that were remarkably cool and admittedly made the home a bit of a bargain even at its list price of one million dollars!
For my part, I explored the interior of the house in a bit of a panic because there was just too much going on and apparently I still have anxiety issues even in my dreams. 😉 I had walked into a room that seemed to be either the living room or master bedroom, and our immediate family was showing off a huge display of stuff that they had helped to pick out for our new home, to the point where I had to stand up and announce that we had sunken all of our money into the house and couldn’t afford to pay anybody back if they opted to help us shop and bought all sorts of expensive things requiring reimbursement…
Anyways!
I tried to get my wife’s attention to come help me simmer down on my way back through the house, but she was sitting on the floor with some friends and a baby who was not Christopher – we’ll get to that more in a second! I ended up back in what was to become my new office area, which was considerably bigger than anything I’ve had in the past mainly because not only was it just a much larger room, but it ended up being a series of rooms that connected down one end of the house, a la OFFICE -> PARLOR -> LIBRARY -> DEN, ultimately ending up back at the front of the house with a pair of large, sliding doors so that in essence half the house could be walled off into my own private wing, which seemed pretty cool!
Still on the hunt for quiet space, though, I walked through what I thought was the dining room, but was configured with several tables to accommodate all of our guests – some of whom were hanging out and snacking – and I pushed on what was almost a hidden, disguised door at the end of the room which lead out into sort of a grotto that was both outdoors and indoors, and was very amazing.
The walkway was made of stone with water on both sides, and every so often it would dip down so that you would be just barely wading from one little garden area to another, and here I passed one of my aunts who seemed to be really taking in the natural aura of this hidden gem.
Beyond the gardens was more of a “play area” that had lots of places for seating, but it was all setup as see-saws and so people were bouncing up and down while they talked and waded their feet in the saltwater! There was also an old-fashioned swing where one of my uncles was gently swinging back and forth, enjoying the breeze, and as I approached, he pointed out a small crustacean that had gotten stranded on its back between two of the landings that rose above the water.
When I reached down to flip him over and help him back into the water, I looked in myself and saw this myriad of sea life that was swimming around in our own little personal escape here – the most noticeable of which was a pair of lobsters that were play fighting a few feet out into the water.
Then as I picked up the stranded crustacean at my feet, suddenly he was a lot bigger than before and he was a lobster, too.
That’s when I turned and heard someone call, “Hey Dad – what’s that?” and turned to find Christopher standing over my shoulder, much bigger than I remembered and now talking and everything. 😀