Weekend at the cottage

We just returned from my Grandma's party weekend in Green Bay. This was the weekend that 17 people were supposed to spend the night in a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom cottage. We made hotel reservations, my mom sprang into action at the threat of us not being on-site wtih the others, and offered us the guest cottage. This is a small cottage next to the 3-bedroom one. We gratefully accepted.

The guest cottage has one large bedroom and a little bathroom. In the bedroom (15x15) is a double-bed, two twin beds, a bunkbed, and a dresser. You might wonder how all these beds fit into a tiny space. The answer is, not very well. And I see from these arrangements that other families have the same biases in favor of cramming as many people as possible into a tiny space.

Tenement-style living quickly turned crabby as kids got wild, adults reached their noise-level max, people stopped obeying the friendly reminder-notes left throughout the cottage ("take off shoes!" "don't use this door!"), and only a few were helping prepare the meal for 40 while the rest sat in the living room became smarter and funnier and louder than ever with the help of free-flowing booze.

I know I sound really crabby, and I guess I just don't do well with the chaos that a big family brings. But coming home and falling into my own bed was very, very nice. And I'm looking forward to a wonderful, relaxing Memorial Day.