Bye Bye, Baby...So Long, Darling...

I knew I couldn't avoid it...I tried, though...but it was impossible. Those hot, hazy endless August days must have done it...a little summer malaise has set in....

You know, it's this black hole of laziness...I am starting to let the kids lounge around and get started later and later each day...and I haven't been to the Farmer's Market in a week, so pasta and scrambled eggs are making repeat performances on the dinner menu...and then one

day last weekend all I had to eat all day long were two Snickers ice cream bars -- so uninspiring (but so delish!)...and I am starting to muse daily about my plans for the Back to School onslaught...just about a month away...could I really be wishing for Fall already? Yike! Nope...I need Cher to whack me in the face right away ("Snap out of it!") so I can savor these next weeks. Enjoying and embracing and welcoming the last few moments of quasi-freedom... No more spending these sunny days and extended hours lolling and slugging about in slo-mo...

So...I am going away. Taking my kids and we are leaving, heading out for fulltime ocean air and salty sandiness...

You know...I am not great at goodbyes...I want so much for them to never come, for the

moments together to never end... Last week on Facebook I was reminded of the Irish Goodbye, which, for those of you who cannot remember or don't want to admit to the existence

of, the Irish Goodbye...it is that elusive "slip-out"...and its flawless execution is a talent the Irish possess like no other. And we all have friends and ex-boyfriends and college buddies who are pros at applying this tactic (Samantha...??)... You know, you are all out, enjoying a fun night, a few cocktails... and suddenly you turn around and said friend or ex-boyfriend or college buddy is gone, nowhere to be found and they never said a word before making their exit...and then everyone spends the next half hour trying to find the missing party...calling, texting...and then eventually it becomes clear...you have just been treated to an Irish Goodbye.

We've all been there, all perplexed and a little miffed until the next

morning when your friend or ex-boyfriend or college buddy explains

where he or she ended up the night before...and of course you tell them that you were worried...but they will do it again...they always do, right? I am proud of my Celtic heritage...but doesn't it seem the Irish are always sharing with us the most questionable of their cultural offerings...Lamb stew, Colin Farrell and the Irish Goodbye -- the g*ddamn holy trinity of Irish crap! That said, pass me a Black & Tan, a wheel of Gubbeen Farmhouse cheese and an Alec Baldwin SNL retrospective, and I am yours...I know, Alec is a stretch...more Killarney via Commack...but at some point those Baldwins were an Irish import of some sort...So, anyway, who knew this little process had a name? I certainly never did until I saw that Lyncher and Murph had become "Fans" of the Irish Goodbye on Facebook. And I visited the page and the group's mission to make this tactic an "acceptable social act" just totally cracked me up...and their little description just summed it up:

"Because everyone knows that bailing without saying bye is the way to do it...."

Hilarious for sure...and I thought for a second that I would try it...that I would go off with my kids and disappear and no one would be the wiser until my email all of a sudden didn't end up in your inbox three weeks in a row. I thought maybe this brand of goodbye would be less painful, less rife with complications...I mean, there has to be a reason men

have been using a form of the Irish Goodbye as a breakup strategy for generations (even Rob, possibly the most considerate guy on the planet, has used it...). But then I remembered how much I hate leaving things all open-ended and ambiguous and confusing...and I didn't want to

pull that move for the first time on all of you, in this forum...I wanted you to know that I am not

gone for good.

So.... kisses and love and hugs and all of that... I promise to come home all salty and

delicious...tanned within an inch of chocolate

brown...hair all scraggly...well-read and rested and uncoiled and chilled out...filled with new musings to share...and busting with joy that I had all that time by the sea with my sweet little darlings.

Malaise, be gone!

Hope you miss me back...

xo, S

Photo 1: Beautiful summer sky...as seen from my actual view for the next few weeks...

Photo 2: Me and Tim, toasty brown and glossy...tanning competition only just beginning...

Photo 3: Walking STD and Irish import, Colin Farrell...totally getting caught in the middle of an Irish Goodbye....

Photos 4: Bonding time: perfect moments and more to come with my travel companions...