Soft Start

I’m young enough to have spent most of my life as a student, so the end of summer still typically feels like a new beginning even though it hasn’t been that in a long, long time. When that reality sets in – that those automatic feelings of excitement are baseless – going back to work after summer vacation suddenly seems particularly tedious. My husband disagrees (all we’re doing is getting closer to ice-fishing season) but was nevertheless eager to delay full-time reality with what’s known here as a “soft start”. That is, easing our way in by not going back to work quite full-time. We cancelled all of our meetings last Friday, forwarded our calls, and headed back up to Dalarna with The Swede’s folks and the Segerstens.

With his parents in the car as backup, I was able to negotiate a leg-stretcher with The Swede aka “No Stops” at my favorite landmark.  

We arrived in Tällberg, at the hotel where we usually stay, just a few minutes after Sarianne’s family, then we all changed into our swimming suits and headed to the pool. We spent most of the day splashing around and taking it easy at the hotel, had Mama Swede’s birthday dinner (her birthday was on Saturday, but this dinner was much nicer than the one we had that day) and then took a walk through the village as the sun set.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love it up there? Gorgeous! 

The next morning, we met up with Ingvor and Roland, who were on their own mini-vacation nearby, for a walk on the lake.

 

Afterwards, we packed up and moved about ten minutes south to a cabin at Leksand Sommarland. It was a typical day in the park, except even more fun because Elin and Julia were there. Jamie and the girls tested an obstacle course built low in the trees and then Elin asked me if I wanted to do the tree-top one. I’m afraid of heights but I have a policy to always do things that scare me (but won’t kill me) so I had to say yes.

 

It was like childbirth, you guys. I was terrified, it was hard, it hurt, and I just wanted it to be over. And when it was, I was super proud of what I’d just done.

This is what terror looks like.

We got home yesterday in time for me to get a ton of stuff done around the house, which made going back to work today somewhat more tolerable. No more three-day weekends. The soft start is over.