Martha's Vineyard June 2008

This year's trip to Martha's Vineyard was the 4th for me. The annual gathering of "Tom and Stephen's" friends at a rental house in Lobsterville has been going on for eons. Way before my time. It comes with a deep seated mystique to it from all the years of hearing stories about the Vineyard gatherings. The first year, I shot to document Stephen working on the beach. The second year, I shot a few digital images, nothing special. The third year, I took was some Holga images (both color and BW). This year I hardly shot at all, but what I did shoot was also with the Holga, BW only. I had a hard time down there this year. Let me give some background...the trip was scheduled for June 17, 18 and 19. My last day at WSC was Friday the 13th, and right after work I had to rush to Sturbridge to shoot for Old Sturbridge Village. First thing on the 14th, I had to pack everything up (and leave early) to drive the 5 hours to NY to photograph a cousin's wedding at 2. Sunday I left by noon- had to drive back home to meet with wedding clients at 6pm. Monday, I had to work on a ton of stuff and get ready to leave for MV the next day. Tuesday we drove down, got on the ferry with the bikes, and headed to MV. I called a wedding client to meet us in Vineyard Haven, for her proof book/DVD pick up. Once that was all set, Jonathan and I biked the 18 miles to the Lobsterville house. I was tired, mentally disturbed (I do not do well with whirlwinds of activity...), beginning to bleed (period) and wanting to be alone. The house, when everyone arrives back at it, has anywhere between 6 and 9 people in it. I really should have thought it all thru a little better and simply stayed at home. This year I was miserable; Jonathan and I had a few misunderstandings, I was not feeling well (above and beyond the period related issues), and I couldn't get home fast enough. However, getting home included a stop at Jonathan's moms house for the night, and I took an antihistamine because I couldn't breathe. Intending to lay down for a little while, I ended up sleeping for 15 hours, which was actually a wonderful gift. I headed home Friday morning and then geared up for another wedding that weekend. I am exhausted just thinking about it. It is a wonderful thing that I have had this summer off from WSC, but this whole experience was right after I was done, and I had no time to calm down from all my jobs. Sometimes I think I need to be more careful about how I schedule my time...I do tend to get stressed about too many things scheduled tightly together. It makes me want to run and hide from the world. Or scrape paint. Either one.