I am now back in Jersey. The traffic was awful—even worse than I expected and I expected it to be bad. But G3 didn’t complain too much about my music so at least I had that as I was inching along through the traffic. After a week of thinking, I think my plan for September is…

When we used to come out here during Family week, G3 and I always walked the breakwater the day we arrived. It became a tradition of sorts. This time we walked it on our last full day. My legs are not as agile as they once were and walking in the rocks was not as easy, but I still enjoy it. Mostly, I enjoyed being out with G3 even though he walked—as he now often does—several strides in front of me. p

I learned long ago that the tighter you try to hold onto something the swifter it passes from your grasp. Yet, this week, I still tried to hold onto to time with mom, the time here on the Cape a little too tightly, wanting the time to last, and here I am at the end of the week happy to have had this moment but sad that it is almost over.

The trails led me first to Duck Pond. Duck Pond is one of several kettle ponds on Cape Cod. They were formed roughly 15,000 years ago. Back then glaciers covered much of this area.

G3 had turned back without me and he made it known that he wasn’t happy. If only G3 could have enjoyed the seals with me. If only he hadn’t been cranky and in a rush to get back. If only he could have walked with me instead of being short with me.

While I was wandering around P-town, my memory was in overdrive as I recollected things we used to do and places G3 once posed for photos. He used to get so excited about spending a week out here.

The last time we were in Cape Cod in the summer, it was the year Dad died. G3 and I needed to get away, we needed a change of scenery, an escape from our all consuming grief. We came here for a week, allowing the ocean to heal us as well as it could.

That was also summer we took a day trip from Eastham to Plimouth Plantation and Plymouth Rock and my love of visiting historic sites while on vacation was born.