A Year of Dan & Jo: August

August was easily my favourite month this year.

I spent the first two weeks of the month in England with Dan and we crammed just about as many things into that short period as humanly possible while navigating around him still having to go to work five days a week.

My friend Jess arrived the day before I was due to leave so she could meet all my pets and get a feel for the neighborhood and routine (my pets are spoiled but they are spoiled by strict schedule). She was going to be a live-in pet sitter while I was away. The next day I had a late flight so I had the whole day to get packed and ready to go and spent most of it wishing I’d booked an earlier flight. That wouldn’t have been possible because Dan was at work all day and wanted to pick me up himself but even he commented that it was a long wait until 10pm to pick me up. We went to bed nearly right away because he had to go to work again the next day.

On my first day as a “stay at home wife” I lazed around in bed and read a book. Not something I get to do often but it was a pretty long day just waiting for him to come back. I did have plans to go out exploring while he was out during the day but didn’t do that on my very first day. By the time 6pm rolled around it was good to have him back, especially knowing that the weekend was getting started.

The first weekend he’d invited his friends over for a BBQ so they could meet me. Not all of them could make it but I did meet his brother, Ste and Bainsey and Bainsey’s son Freddie. It rained a bit (welcome to summer in the North of England) but it was a lot of fun (and a lot of food) and nothing a well-placed portable gazebo couldn’t sort out. It was nice to finally put some faces to people I’d heard so much about.

Sunday was a lovely lazy day. Dan made his mom and I a Sunday roast and we watched lots of TV in the living room. One of the things I really love about visiting Dan is that it’s super easy to spend time with his mom. We hit it off right from the start and it just keeps getting better.

On Monday, while Dan was at work, I ventured out of the house and had a walk along the beach. It was windy and a bit chilly but I love the beach in that kind of weather and it was a great way to keep up with my step count as I tend to let that slide when Dan and I are together, especially when I’m in England and don’t have to walk the dogs. I walked to the supermarket and had a long poke around for “stuff and things”. Supermarkets in other countries are like theme parks. So many products and yummy treats that you just can’t get at home. I walked back home and about halfway through my 45 minute walk back I realised that my shoes were pinching my feet in lots of different places. Ouch! My poor tootsies were on fire by the time I got back so I settled back into bed with my laptop and caught up on Game of Thrones.

Once Dan was back and we’d eaten, we cuddled up and watched Sightseers (2012) together. Dan and I are both shit at choosing what movie to watch so we take turns naming three potential movies and the other one picks one. It’s a system that’s been working quite well for us.

On Tuesday Dan’s mom took the day off work and we went shopping together at the Metro Centre. Wasn’t til we got there that we both realised that neither of us were really keen shoppers so we spent the day window shopping and marvelling at the very odd fashions we saw everywhere. We had a lovely lunch at an Italian restaurant and then went on a mission to find Dan something. We both agreed that he should be easy to shop for as he’s got a very particular look to his clothes (baggy jeans and faded grey band shirts) but his specific “style” actually made it harder to shop for him as there weren’t many shirts that fit the bill. In the end we thought we’d challenge his comfort zone and got him a shirt with brown and black stripes which he really liked. Mostly he liked that we chose it together.

Wednesday night Dan and I had a real life date night instead of a Skype one and we went out to dinner. He wore his new shirt and I wore a striped dress. The waitresses were fascinated by my “American” accent and we ordered way more food than I thought the two of us could eat. We did quite well in the end and Dan rolled me home for an early night tucked into bed and watching Orphan Black together. Helena is Dan’s favourite, Alison is mine.

Dan’s mom loved using me as an excuse to take time off work and on Thursday she took me to Barnard Castle (a place) and Raby Castle (a castle). I took loads of pictures and ate a massive lunch. It was a really gorgeous day and again it was very easy to spend time with her. We popped into a little antique store and also had a coffee before heading back home.

Once home it was time to start packing up for a little camping trip that Dan and I would be leaving on the next day after he was finished work. We would be spending exactly two nights at the campsite and took enough stuff to keep us comfy for about a week. We packed up the car as soon as he got home and then drove the two hours to Ullswater where our lakeside campsite was. By the time we arrived it was already quite dark and we still had to find a spot for, and set up, our tent. Thankfully it was a pretty simple (huge) tent to set up and before long we were setting up “home” inside only to discover that we’d forgotten the air mattress valve and so it refused to be anything but flat as a pancake. It was not a really comfortable first night but that couldn’t suppress our sense of fun and adventure.

The next morning we spent quite a long time in “bed” (aka the ground) as it was raining outside and not exactly inviting weather for exploring. Eventually that settled down and we went to the campsite store to buy a new air mattress and Dan cooked us breakfast. Fortified with food and encouraged by sunshine we ventured out for a walk along the lakeside and to see if we could find the top of one of the nearby hills. There were lots and lots of lovely dogs for me to count at the campsite and we stopped at a pub in the nearby village for lunch. It was delicious and the portion was huge! I did my best but, like with every meal on this trip, it won. We didn’t need much more food that evening and before bed we built a little campfire. It was a lovely way to end the day before snuggling to sleep on our brand new, fully inflated mattress.

Sunday morning saw us taking our time with breakfast and packing up. Dan is super organised and I am not but thanks to some pretty slick teamwork we were packed up in no time and ready to hit the road. I could have easily spent a week at that campsite and not just because we were decked out with all the comforts of home but because it was a beautiful area and we didn’t get close to seeing even a fraction of it. I heard from a lot of people that you really get to know someone when you share a tent with them but I think this trip showed that we knew each other quite well before we even set up the first pole. There were no surprises for me and it was just as easy as every other aspect of our relationship had been up to that point. Even so, it was lovely to be back at his place again and cuddled up in a real bed.

My last couple of days in England were a bit dull during the day. Dan was back at work and I really didn’t feel like walking 45 minutes to the supermarket again, no matter how fun it was to walk on the beach. I was also sulking in advance because my return flight was approaching at alarming speed and I didn’t want to leave yet.

Dan and I went on another date and we watched more Orphan Black together. We also watched Their Finest (2016). After all of our adventures this trip our last few days were spent just being together without too many distractions. It was a good balance and would set the tone for how we rounded off most of our following visits.

On Thursday morning Dan dropped me off at the airport before he headed to work. We couldn’t make our goodbyes very long as he had to leave to be on time which made it both easier and harder. I hate that part of our visits. The flight home was uneventful and it was a good thing there were some ridiculously cute pets waiting for me at home that were over the moon that I was back because doggy cuddles and cat head butts were the only thing that could cheer me up. I sulked for a few days and then made sure I planned a lot of activities to keep my mind off not having Dan with me.

Dan and I planned a couple of Skype date nights for the end of August and I learned that there’s a pill you can take to delay your period for up to eleven days (Primolut). This was going to be very handy for Dan’s visit the following month as my period tracker app told me his visit would be smack in the middle of my next shark week. The things you learn to deal with when you have limited time to be with your person. It’s certainly been an educational year so far.

Having done so many wonderful things together in August made the wait for our next 48 hour visit in September more bearable. Looking back on our two weeks together still makes me smile. I can’t wait to go on more camping trips together.

(… to be continued …) JIx

Also in this series:  January // February // March // April // May // June // July