Like they wanted to make sure we knew what the world around us thought of us, and what they believed was our place in society. I felt like they were somehow trying to hold us accountable for something.
Getting a good job felt like I was pushing back against that preconceived notion of me. I was proving to them, and to myself, that I was more than that. I wasn’t destined to follow right behind my mother and fill her footsteps. I could be more. And I was going to be more. Having to work so hard for long hours and be away from Olly was a trade-off I was going to have to be willing to take.
It made Saturdays as special as they were. I didn’t want to walk into my interview with Everett at the logging company with a list of demands, but there was one thing that I insisted on: I needed to have weekends off. Fortunately for me, he didn’t even flinch at the request. He let me know the logging company didn’t work on the weekends, except for him, Carter, and Deacon occasionally working a few hours on Saturday to make sure that all the administrative work was finished, and they were ready for the week to come.
That meant I was sure I would have the time on Sunday to do everything I needed to do to keep my life running. I did the grocery shopping, cleaned the house, ran errands, and did anything else that needed to be done to make the week ahead go more smoothly. Sundays were often as busy, if not busier, than my days at work.
Saturdays made it all worth it. Saturdays were the days set aside just for Olly and me. No matter what else was going on during the week or what I needed to accomplish on Sunday, that day was just for us. Unless the weather was bad, that meant spending the afternoon at the park attached to the school building.
Soon enough, he would be going to preschool in that very building, but for now, I just wanted to give him all the opportunities I could to play outside. So many children spent a vast majority of their lives indoors, and I didn’t want that for my son.
Deana brought him outside to play during the day, but there was something special about us having our outings together. Especially at the park. The school building was positioned in the most ideal spot, surrounded by the incredible woods that made up much of the terrain surrounding Ashford. That was one thing about the small town that made me feel fortunate to call it my hometown. We had such great natural beauty around us, and it had meant so much to me when I was young.
I wanted my little boy to grow up knowing that natural beauty the way I did. Even when times were hard at home, the woods and the mountains had always been my safe space. I wanted the same for Olly. I wanted him to love nature and to feel safe and comfortable enjoying the outdoors. I loved the idea of him exploring the same trails as I did, finding shade and comfort under the same trees.
Olly and I always had lunch out at the park, settling on our favorite old, worn blanket and enjoying a picnic together. It was a fun way to extend our outdoor time, and somehow food always tasted better when eaten picnic style. Maybe that was just me remembering smuggling whatever snacks or little bits of food I could out of the kitchen when I was younger and bringing them with me on my adventures into the woods.
Usually, our picnic would consist of the normal suspects. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Yogurt. Carrot sticks. Raisins. But that day, I decided something special was in order.
I wasn’t a stranger to the diner in town. The guys at the logging company ate there for lunch most days of the week, and they always invited me to go along. Usually I didn’t go, opting to bring my own food to save money. But the diner had been a fixture in Ashford for decades, and I’d been there many times throughout my life.
I walked into the diner with Olly and waved to Helen. She was sitting at the counter with one of the babies in her arms, eating what looked like a classic club sandwich. That made me laugh a little. It was well-known around town she’d swung the pendulum a bit too far when it came to trying to freshen up the menu and bring new flavors and ideas to Ashford. She’d brought all kinds of cooking techniques, dishes, and trendy ingredients from the restaurant in Chicago where she’d been working when her mother called for her help. The diner wasn’t ready for all of that.