Where has the past month gone?? I said so long to Boston over Memorial Day weekend and I would say it was a bittersweet goodbye. I really did love living in a city and Boston was a great city for my first experience doing such. The weather was just beginning to get nice my final week there and the city was coming alive. I would have liked to experience Boston during the few nice months - kind of as a reward for surviving the harsh winter months! I think my favorite aspects of city living were being able to walk everywhere, how busy and energetic the city is at all hours of the day, and the lack of unsightly parking lots and superstores everywhere. Boston also has great parks, lots of history, and a very diverse, intelligent population. Best of all, it is located on a coast and after growing up 7 hours from the closest water source (besides the beautiful Mississippi), it seemed so luxurious to be able to head to the beach for an hour or two whenever I felt like it! At the same time I found it difficult (though I didn’t really put in too much effort) to meet people and was eager to leave Boston for a more social existence. Overall, it was an easy move since I sold my furniture to the girl who took over my lease. I packed my belongings, stuffed my car, and headed out! I stopped in NYC for a night on the way to help a friend from high school, Mike, move into a new apartment and prepare for summer long, investment-banking internship. Another high school friend, Kaitlin, who now lives in D.C., met us there as well. It was great to see both of them especially since I have no idea when I will have another opportunity to do so! From NYC it was another 20ish hours and 6 states till I was back in St. Louis!
I had just a few days in St. Louis and then it was time for the annual Ratchford family roadtrip to Macatawa, Michigan. Though we go every June and avoid deviation from Macatawa ‘tradition’ (every year we stop at the same rest stop and McDonald’s on the way up, eat at the same local restaurant where Beth always serve us, and prepare the same meals for the other six dinners) it never seems gets old. I look forward to this trip every year and couldn’t imagine a summer without it. I think tradition is part of what makes the place so special since my grandma has been going there since a little girl and the house we stay in is over 100 years old. There is a lot of history and memories there. This year’s week could be summarized by “food, bananagrams, wine, boggle, and more food.” I gained almost ten pounds – that’s how intense the eating is. Beach time was limited as it was a bit chilly! One thing out of the norm did happen this year though! My cousin Katie got engaged!! My soon to be cousin-in-law, Dan, took Katie on a walk up to the sand dunes overlooking Lake Michigan at sunset and proposed! Then they came home, announced it to the family, and we all celebrated with a little Purple vodka due to a lack of champagne. So congrats to Dan and Katie! The wedding will be this spring and I am going to have my first bridesmaid experience so I am excited for that!
the beautiful sunsets
Macatawa Men's Club
the girls
usual nightly game of Boggle
I returned home from Michigan I had just over a week to finish unpacking from Boston and Macatawa and then get everything together for South Africa. Definitely not enough time to organize myself or see everyone I wanted to see. Seemed like a quick visit and now I am on the go again.
Now I’m on a plane bound for Newark on my way to Cape Town! I have been sitting on the Lambert runway for a good 45 minutes so let’s hope the journey gets better from here…
