American Kids

This year, I spent the Fourth of July up in Chelsea, Vermont with my boyfriend’s family. We had traveled north, not only for the holiday, but to help build a new snowmobile shed on the property. I went in a bit blind and was surprised to find that after five days, we had a solid, 14′ by 28′ structure constructed.

On our drive home, Ryan and I were laughing about how we felt like a real construction crew. We would wake up, make plans, and then get to work. We agreed that it felt good to build something and see it take shape, even if the process was slower than we anticipated: day one and two were putting up posts, day three was beams, and day four and five were rafters.

Ryan and I visit Vermont as often as possible. It’s one of the most relaxing places and this trip was no different. We woke up early everyday, just in time to watch the sun peak over the mountains while we enjoyed our morning coffee. The fog would roll in and out of the valley while the birds sang. We spent our afternoons floating in the pond, cooking meals, drinking wine, playing frisbee golf, watching fireworks from the porch, and making s’mores.

We were joking all week about how we were having a true, American Fourth of July weekend. American kids- spending more time outside than in. It was drinking beers while floating in eighteen wheeler tire tubes and driving the Ranger up to barbecue burgers on the grill. It was a trip that mimicked the country songs we were singing along to.

It’s funny, but I always base how great my time in Vermont was on how hard the withdrawal of being back home is afterwards. Let me tell you, our first Monday back was a very difficult day.