"We're gonna miss this." / for mister hank anderson !! 🥺😭 <3
The evening was one of those perfect ones. A slight breeze; it couldn't be more than 78 or so degrees, and the temperature quickly dropped with the setting sun. Hank and Majima were sitting on the porch of the cabin as the kids played and dinner cooked.
He took a sip of lemonade as he watched the kids playing along the edge of the lake, one last cabin weekend before school started back up and another fall rolled around. The cycle of life, the truth in it all: inevitably, another season always comes.
Lana, Cole, Mayson, and Noah too all played happily, going between themselves and playing together. All covered in muck and not a care in the world. Every so often, one of the kids, mostly Lana or Noah, rushed over, excited to show them some 'treasure' they found in the sand/dirt of the lakeshore.
Coins, rocks, shells, broken glass smoothed over by weathering and time. Each kid has a mesh satchel slung over their shoulder to keep their finds in. Lana had a small pile of trash beside her as well, to be brought back up to the cabin and properly disposed of. Who littered out here was beyond Hank. Maybe the wind took things from picnickers, or it was from the rowdy vacation rental guests the people got. It certainly wasn't any of the Andersons.
All in all, it was a relaxing evening, a rare blessing of wonderful temperature, content kids, and no responsibilities. Yeah, it's something to be soaked in and enjoyed
And yet... "Easy to say right now that nobody is screaming their head off or fighting."
Because with three to four kids around here at any time, all under 12, there was always chaos and commotion going on. And while the kids got along with one another well enough, they were still just children. They got into arguments and squabbles just like any other siblings. The boys in particular were hitting an age where relationships with younger siblings could be volatile... and it showed. Yeah. It was hard to see it sometimes while going through the center of the storm, although Hank knew deep down Majima was right. He just didn't want to admit it. That would just be sad, wouldn't it? Thinking of the future where this was gone?
But... Someday this lakehouse (and their regular residence) would be quiet for good, and Hank would miss it. The best to hope for would be laughter and noise of a busy home returning for holidays...
But really now, when was the last time Hank had the house to himself (if ever?) Before Cole, Mayson, and Lana came along, Hank had his three eldest to raise. It seemed like a completely different lifetime ago that all he had were the three boys. Connor, Carter, Niles. Two nine-year-olds and a 7-year-old. All grown now, 28 and 26. One a Dad himself to two little ones.
And while certainly no one plans for such a large age gap between their oldest and youngest child, Hank enjoyed the last twenty-plus years of cacophony. He missed the days when the eldest three were this little sometimes but was also usually too busy with the 'next set' to look back or even ahead. He was just trying to get through the day. Day by day. Fuck, sometimes it was moment to moment. He still had a long road ahead before an empty nest. But it wasn't lost on him either, the mirror his current life presented: what with him raising two 10-year-olds and an 8-year-old again. It was a rather interesting circumstance.
He used to bring his oldest three out to the lake along with their small group of friends he brought under his wing. Those kids might as well have been his own. And now he had to admit Noah had also found a place in his heart and home. Another one to watch grow and eventually let go.
If the days of raising Connor, Carter, and Niles seemed a lifetime ago, then not having any kids at all might as well have been another world. Was it easier for Majima to see it (and feel it) when that kind of life, as far as Hank had gauged from the other man, was still relatively recent? To be in a place where you couldn't imagine things any other way now that you had it, yet were also aware of the inevitable? Ah, hell, maybe Hank was thinking about it too damn hard. But once you got him going, it was a slippery road to bring him back.
He watched as Mayson grabbed a shovel out of Lana's hands by force, but instead of whining, she simply pushed him and took it back. Okay. Well, that situation resolved itself.
"Yeah. Alright. We are gonna miss this, for fucking sure... So better take it in while you still can. Life moves fast..." something Hank knew they were both all too familiar with...