Hard to Imagine

It’s hard to imagine that we were all here over 20 years. It wasn’t the last time we all got together with you still making us meatballs, but possibly the last at the condo.

It brought a smile to my face as I looked down on the dock today.

Of course it’s not the same dock. We all know what happened to the old one.

20+ people was clearly too much for one spot.

It shouldn’t have been if things were done correctly, but how often do we find out that that’s not always the case?

We can laugh about it now because most of the injuries were minor and few and far between minus the invisible scars many of us still hold when walking on wooden walkways.

I can still hear P and M laughing. Joking in the back as we try to get the picture set up and explain to the kind stranger how to take the photo.

They predicted the collapse well before we heard the crack and took the plunge to the cold, brackish water below.

They continued to laugh as they chucked everyone’s shoes up on the grass while everyone scrambled to get out of the water. The kind lady long gone with the camera left on the grass. I can still hear the murmur of everyone on their balconies who probably had stepped out looking for dolphins or appreciating the sunset and instead they got front row seats to an entertaining show.

No, it’s not the same dock. The inspectors made sure it was all torn down and rebuilt up to code. Although it’s been over 20 years, so hopefully they still get it checked out! We still ate meatballs tonight. But we didn’t use your recipe.

It’s hard to imagine it’s been so long since we’ve been here with you. I’m just grateful that I can still feel your presence here. And don’t worry- we made sure to put some ice cream in the freezer. While some things change for the better, some were always perfect just the way they were.