Weekend in Annapolis

It's been day in and day out with kids for almost five years. The only time I had spent a night away from Edith was when Atticus was born, and I had never spent a night away from Atticus.

Coincidentally, it had also been about five years since two of my old college roommates and I had gotten together. I had seen Allison and Sarah separately, but several weeks ago I asked if they were available for a get-together this summer. They were, and the winning location was Annapolis, where Allison lives. Bonus: I had never been there before.

The worst parts of the weekend were the 6.5 hour drives there and back, of course. The best part was, well, the entire rest of the trip.

Like Columbus, Annapolis is a capital city. Other than that, they couldn't be more different. Annapolis lives and breathes the water. It would have been impossible to count the sheer number of sailboats, yachts and other boats of all shapes and sizes that I saw. And I got to experience a bit of it myself when a friend of Allison's husband took us all out on his speedboat. Jumping the waves was almost as good as Cedar Point, and it seemed so funny to "parallel park" the boat along a restaurant and jump out to eat.

Downtown was active and lively, with lots of small stores, ice cream shops and restaurants. We met up with one of Allison's friends that evening to see a '90s tribute band -- not something I would have necessarily chosen, but a blast nonetheless.

I never would have considered myself a water person, let alone a boat person, but I really had a great time surrounded by both. Hopefully I won't let another five years go by before I see my old roommates ... or get away from the responsibilities of home.