The Mini-vacation on the Cape--Good for the Soul

We have been enjoying our Cape Cod vacation and last night met a wonderful young couple who sat with us at the wedding reception. Bride and Groom Jackie and Mark included many personal touches that made the wedding more fun.

At the table, the placecards were all little snippets of some of the couple's favorite photos, one showed a woman on a horse that was wearing a tuxedo. My card showed a bit of Notre Dame Cathedral. The tables were all adorned with funky little pitchers that people could take home. At the wedding's start ushers passed out a 'Nuptials News" a sheet that told us some fun facts about the couple, such as that he proposed in a swamp, and that he owns a Porsche 911, and that they will be honeymooning in Bermuda.

It's always fun at a wedding to learn about the lives of people you've been thrown together with for the festive occasion. Chris and Melissa are young homeowners, having only very recently traded in a condo for a house in rural Russell MA. He bore the callouses he got from fixing his own roof, and she was now in the market for a new car since hers had been totalled just a few days before when a semi crunched her Honda into an unrepairable hulk.

At the table, another man told us about his work, doing the project engineering for huge new Ikea stores all over the US. We talked about the chain and how much of a tradition it has become to outfit one's first apartment by taking a trip to Ikea. Nobody, we agreed, can make it out of the huge maze of a store without spending at least $50. His wife told us about her long hours working for Habitat for Humanity, where so many meetings between house builders and fund raisers make the job tiring but satisfying.

Today we had time to putter around the Cape, and we made our way to tony Chatham. After a walk on the Cape Cod bicycle path we made it into the center, down a long bulbous neck of land stretching out into the bay. These times that we get to just wander into stores, enjoy leisurely long lunches, and then have a treat like a long nap in our motel room are some of the best times Cindy and I have together. Despite an overreliance on the GPS that lead us down more than a few dead-ends, we've had a wonderful mini-vacation here in lovely Dennis.