New Hampshire Love

We are just back from a glorious week home in NH, where even when it rained, we swam, hiked, played music, kayaked, and celebrated the wedding of some very dear friends. On Friday, Phil and I will celebrate our own wedding anniversary - the 5th, in fact - but 5 years seems like nothing compared to the nearly 14 we've actually spent together. And although our entire married life has been spent in Baltimore, we found each other in NH. We have left large parts of ourselves there... floating there in the clear clean lakes and white birch forests. When we go and visit them, it's hard to just leave them there. But our families, still there in New England nurture those pieces of us left in the woods, and in the big yards with hammocks and raccoons and vegetable gardens. We're so glad we have people to watch out for our NH side, and keep it healthy. This week we swam in ALL of our favorite swimming spots. We ate meals with family, we danced with longtime friends, and visited the bagel shops and coffee shops that first glued us awkwardly together. We checked email, thought about Baltimore, and our jobs and our adult lives. I missed our neighbors, made plans for our back yard and a trip to MD's eastern shore with my girlfriends.
Then we swam some more. Floating in Goose Pond together in the pouring rain, and laughing about how clean and legally swimmable the water is, I realized it's ok that I will never live entirely in Baltimore, no matter how long I'm there. There are at least two places I will always call home.
Oh, and we decided that this week might be a good time to finally look at our wedding photos. (you do that at 5 years, right?) Maybe I'll post one if that really happens.