In Between

I very much feel as if various aspects of life are currently hovering in between different stages.

In between summer and fall.

In between what I'm doing now and what I'll be doing in the future.

In between children and teenagers.

When I drop the girls off at school in the morning, I can't stay parked at the curb.  I try to watch them walk along the pathway as I drive around to the exit of the parking lot, but they always seem to turn the corner before I can catch sight of them again.  Their independence is growing.

I know I'm an overprotective parent.  I had to text friends of our last night regarding this overprotectiveness.  I needed their input on an after-school activity in which their daughter was also expressing an interest.  There were concerns from my end.  I defend my overprotectiveness.  I've already lived through what no parent ever expects to live through and I can't go through that again.  It would kill me.

I was not alone in my thoughts.  They agreed with me.  We came up with a reasonable solution and game plan.  In more ways than one, it takes a village.

Despite the nice weather last weekend, we stayed at home instead of heading to the cottage.  The girls were tired from their first full week of school and we had some shopping and errands to take care of.  I also needed them to try on clothes at the store before I ordered anything online.  In between sizes.  Size 10/12 for the most part is still noticeably too large.  While 7/8 fits, the pants can be short, depending on the brand.  Thank goodness for leggings and jeggings and not having to worry about pants that look like floods.

We did spend a bit of time down the Cape two weekends ago.  It wasn't "beach weather" but we wanted to try to wrap up some painting projects.



Dinner at the knack in Orleans.  Best black and white milkshake.  I was craving one and this hit the spot.  Emily shared it with me and said it was the best milkshake she's ever had.

After dinner, we took a walk along Nauset Beach.























Sadly, a few days ago, a young man lost his life after being attacked by a shark in the waters off of Wellfleet.  His death is the first in Massachusetts from a shark in over 80 years.  Since the attack last month, officials have been urging for some type of change and for beach-goers to take shark warnings seriously.  They predicted a fatal shark attack was imminent.

Sharks are up there on my fear list so I've been reading all the related news articles.  Interestingly, in one, a shark bite expert from Australia stated how he had viewed Cape Cod as a unique place with seals, sharks and humans all sharing the same water.  While that is somewhat true, it's not the complete picture.  Sharks are eating the seals as that is their food supply.  Due to seasonal changes, the shark population dwindles and then builds up over the summer months.  It's at an all time high right now.  As is the seal population, which is protected.  I believe luck and lifeguards, who are not posted at beaches after Labor Day, plus extremely frigid waters off of the Outer Cape beaches) have played a role in keeping shark attacks from happening thus far.  Many are calling for a reduction in the seal population.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.