{PROMPT: write detailed directions for how to get somewhere}
If you want to get to the cottage,
Pack your sister’s car full of everything that you could possibly need for a week
(It goes without saying that you should forget to pack mountain pie irons, your pink inflatable floatie, your black skirt, and pancake mix)
And then
Listen to “Sunflower” by Vampire Weekend as you
Ride with her from your place to your family’s place,
Where the van and trailer are being packed.
Giggle hard with your mom about how
People are beginning to stick random individual items into the van.
Tennis rackets, shoes, water bottles, rolls of paper towels should be generously sprinkled
Over the suitcases, coolers, and a corn hole game.
Climb into a Ford Fiesta with your siblings.
Run an errand.
At this point, your brother will probably pick up delicious drinks for you all.
Yum.
Ride.
Relax into being with people who come from the same place and people as you do.
Note the ways you have each grown separately as well.
It’s a gift
It’s a gift
It’s a gift.
Wish within your soul that google maps would just once take you the same route to the cottage that your dad always drives.
The dad route is a mystery, indeed.
Drive past the cottage on your way to get groceries. Best to
Be a little splurge-y.
Half of the siblings should pile back in the car
So that the second half of the siblings can pile the groceries on top of them.
And the most important thing to understand about
How to get to the cottage?
You can’t get there directly.
It’s impossible.
If you just throw a neat and tidy suitcase in your trunk
And pull out of your driveway promptly when you planned to,
YOU WILL NEVER ARRIVE.
You will drive and drive,
But you’ll never find that special place that comes at the end of
A journey that has born and blossomed and writhed.
Without that journey,
The cottage becomes a ghost,
Transparent and filmy-
Next to invisible.
If you get to the ghost cottage,
You haven’t gone far enough.
The journey is just as much a part of the cottage experience
As the cottage itself is.
It isn’t taking away.
It is adding to.
So take your time.
Take a deep breath.
This is a long haul.
No rush.
You’ll get there eventually.
And when you do,
it’ll still smell
Mossy and
Sunscreen-y and
Sandy.
That’s the best way to get to the cottage.
See you there?
