The Cabin

When I was first pregnant with Sam, my Father-in-Law had just retired from almost 40 years as a teacher. He and my mother-in-law bought a cabin in Montello, Wisconsin on Lake Puckaway. It wasn't really a cabin, it was a two bedroom house on a double lot. He was insane about The Cabin.

They'd had it for not quite a year when Mr.Rix and I (and Sam) moved up to WI with nary a dime. We stayed at The Cabin for about 3 months. Mr. Rix drove 100 miles round trip and I stayed at The Cabin with a newborn. Of course, the setting wasn't ideal, I was quite a ways away from our Hemophilia Treatment Center (90 miles, to be exact). My newborn hadn't really had any bleeds, but I knew they were coming. And I was more or less, living with my Father-in-Law.

We eventually moved out of The Cabin and in to Oshkosh where we stayed for almost a decade. But we spent as much time as we could at The Cabin. It was only an hour from our house so getting away for the weekend was easy. We helped take care of The Cabin when Mr. Rix's folks couldn't get up there.

My Father-in-Law spent as much time at The Cabin as possible. He drove up and stayed for weeks on end...I think that's how he stayed married during his retirement.

Since Dad passed away, Mom has been saddled with handling The Cabin. The roof of the garage caved in due to heavy snow last winter. The roof of of The Cabin started leaking. Not good.

So, she put it on the market. And it's been on the market for some time (stupid depression). We hadn't been up there since before Dad died.

Last month we took a long weekend and went back. Jesus it was hard. I was in tears as we pulled into the driveway. The boys ran into the house and Sam just kept going on and on about how good it smelled. Nat hit the closet and dug into the toys that have been their since he was an infant. And all I could do was feel so sad.



We made the absolute most of our weekend.







It was bittersweet. We remember how much we LOVE spending time there, but we just can't afford to buy the cabin from Mom. And there's a good chance that we won't get up there again. We hope she can sell it before winter sets in, but the thought of not being able to go up there is awful.