We arrive at Charleston on Friday – incredibly relieved to stop traveling for a bit. I am ready to discuss all the things we need to do now that we are further north. Matt protests and says we are both exhausted and need to go into ‘protect mode.’ We do the minimum and celebrate our progress by going out to dinner and even ordering dessert. (downtown Charleston, Arthur Ravenel Bridge).

The boys swim on Friday and Saturday. Matt has rented a car to go back to FL to get the van. The transmission was dying so it was at the dealership. It ends up being a 10-hour overnight process to get it up to Charleston which begs the question of why we still have it (convenience, freedom, Lego storage device). We pass by this boat. I ask Matt why we don’t just haul the thing around with us.

I walk the boys down to the marina bathrooms for the 5^th time today. My arm is slung over Malachi’s shoulders. “Mom,” he says, “I’m not sure what kind of career I want.” “Well,” I say, a bit taken aback that this has been occupying any of his cognitive real estate “you’re eight years old, so you still have lots to experience before you decide.” It reminds me of his announcement after his first day of kindergarten. As I put him to bed that night, he had declared, “Mom, I’m going to marry Tilly when I grow up. She’ll be my wife.” “Hmmm,” I responded, “That’s a big decision – you really don’t want to rush into anything. Let’s revisit this again once you’re in second grade.”

[PS. I promise to take my camera to a shop and get the black dot removed. Have tried to clean it three times – cannot figure out what’s going on. My mom would say the black dot is the Holy Spirit ; )].