Baltimore Wedding Photographer Kathy Freundel » 443.844.2352

Our trip home from Boston on Sunday was a dilly. I spent most of the drive wondering why road tolls aren’t just wrapped into taxes . . . and cursing myself that I don’t have an EZPass, although EZPass doesn’t stop  the bickering of restless sojourners in the back seat.

But my travel pain was water under the bridge the moment I got home. My Dad . . . best guy in the whole, wide world . . . is one of those people that listens really carefully, looks for an opportunity to give and seizes it every single time. He is the BEST gift giver. So guess what I had in my hand late Sunday night??? YES.

I grabbed about five hours of sleep, and was in the car at half past dark on my way to Walmart to find my plastic organizers. And while I shoulda been unpacking and doing laundry yesterday, I was taking inventory of my life. Do you know what it costs to be unorganized? Add up my five tubes of triple antibiotic cream and do the math! I’m turning over a new leaf . . . and if you want to see it, come now, cause I can’t promise how long it will last. But it IS beautiful, don’t you think?

(note to all you evolved people) . . . I know you’re saying, “hmm. she must have control issues.”  You should try living in my brain for a day- sometimes I want to pop my head off like a Barbie and put it on the nightstand to get some quiet. That’s me- super task oriented. Good thing my family laughs with and not at. I’m evolved enough to know iyamwhatiyam.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you one more thing that I fell in LOVE with at Katy’s. Her Simple Human trash can. Kinda oxymoronic, but I LOVE that trash can.

Following her down the beach access road, I had the strongest sensation that I had journeyed this chapter in one of my summer reads. The one about the hip mom that collected free spirited, bare footed kids, threw them in her ’75 La Sabre, and adventured off to a day at the basin, collecting periwinkles, driftwood and hermit crabs. That’s the way Katy rolls. She grew up in a family of six, whose father customized an Utz potato chip truck in the 70′s , threw the family in with games and books, and set out to show them the country. She’s a free spirit who responds, “of course!” when her wet, sandy-bottomed daughter asks to sit on her lap in the beach chair, and “thank you for holding my hand,” when the other daughter touches base during a sunset beach walk. She’s been my friend since freshman year at York College . . . back when we were the ones trying to figure out what was important about life. Katy’s figured it out.

It’s magic just to be in her circle of loved ones. I can tell by the way her kids look at her.

Carl played “Pied Piper” all afternoon, kayaking the kids around in shifts and playing “don’t rock the boat,” with the crew so that Katy and I could sit in our beach chairs and reminisce. We met several of Katy’s “Plum Island” circle including Ty Buckman, a Shakespeare professor from Wittenburg University- he and Carl had exciting things to talk about.

Isabel and Kristiana knew they would be fast friends. After all, Kristiana has been sleeping in Izzy’s bed, reading her books, and sewing on her machine all week. I heard talk of “pen pal-ing” as we were leaving.

How do you impress upon your daughters that “being a loyal ya-ya” is one of the biggest gifts a girl can give and receive? I can’t tell you how many times Katy and I have had conversations about our experiences growing into women that ended with, “we’ve gotta be sure to teach our daughters about THAT.”

Claire has graciously given her room to Lily and Caroline for the week. The girls have loved being frog and  hermit crab care takers.

And Sam finally got to meet Henry. No problem connecting there.

Katy’s one of those special ones . . .  more concerned about people than things, experiences than places; she made us feel like we were the most welcomed guests ever to cross her threshold. Our only sadness was that we missed her David, by one day.

Plum Island . . . place of magical childhood memories. New England bliss.

We lived way out in the country, so even with a 100 foot antenna bracketed to the side of our rancher, we only could tune into a handful of channels. My all time favorite was a PBS show called ZOOM. “W-aaa-tch ZOOM. Z-DOUBLE O -M. Boston Mass oh-two-one-three-four!” I sent away for the ZOOM club cards, learned to speak “ubbie-dubbie” (ask me, I’m still bilinugual, as is my sis), and know the coolest slight of hand trick thanks to cast member, Bernadette. Why do I share? Cause I finally made it to Boston, Mass!

The Freundel ten are enjoying half a house swap. We are pretending to be the Dirks family this week, from Needham, Mass. Even went to the neighborhood pool on day one and ended up visiting with one of Katy Dirk’s good friends. It is such an adventure to step into another woman’s life, to live in her house, shop at her stores and share the same adventures. Katy’s been my friend for years and years, and she’s always been the most laid back, yet purposeful woman I know. We get to see her on Plum Island later this week . . . can’t wait!

Caroline and Lily discover the “secret passage door” in Claire’s bedroom. This is the perfect “hide-and-seek” house. Reminds me so much of my Gi-Gi’s home in River Edge, NJ, I half expected to see a Beechnut gum plastic swing hanging from the rafters in the scary, red basement.

And the boys are happy to discover that it really was the right choice to travel light . . . Sam has been answering to the name of “Henry” all week. He’s learned to ride Henry’s two wheeler on bumpy sidewalks, and awakens to Henry’s train yard every morning.

Katy has ceramic tiles all over the house . . . made by her three beautiful children. I wish I had done this- so Katy.

Big adventure for the Freundel girls was our first excursion to the American Girl Store in Boston. It was a once in a lifetime for us, so we got the milkshakes, hairdo’s and everything.

Dan caught up on his rest in his own private loft room. First time the guy’s ever had his own room, and I think it agreed with him. He had a pile of letters from Chrysalis (his agape) that he savored . . . and then, it was college visitation time.

We’ve visited two universities so far, and Dan really LOVED one of them. We’ve still got a couple more on our list, but I’m so happy that he’s dreaming big dreams.

And I’d never survive without my Carl, who always knows by the look on my face that he needs to send me an encouraging text. Don’t know what I did to deserve him, but I’m sure glad that he’s on my side.