I really should be working, but it's the first time I've had the house all to myself since we've gotten back and I'm missing my people. Missing last week. So I'm being a little self indulgent and reflecting a bit.
We were blessed to be able to rent a beautiful house right on the Merced river in Yosemite for four glorious days. From the deck you could hear the loud rushing of the rapids. You could watch the water rushing over the huge boulders. I miss that sound. It was constant. It was powerful. It more or less erased every thought. Except at night...in the pitch black. Standing on the deck listening to the water and not being able to see it freaked me out:/
All week long we had driven by these beautiful lupine flowers along the road. I really just wanted to snap a picture with the river behind it. Capture the beauty somehow. Brand it into my brain. The whole thing...the river, the pops of color...the joy in my spirit man. The search for peace and calm.
It's the quest for relaxation that almost makes it hard find. Does that make sense? It never fails that the first day or two are usually a nightmare for us on vacation. Honey and I are at each other. We usually get lost...can't figure out where or what we should be doing. Panic sets in that we are wasting our precious vacay time. My little had a cold that popped up over night. So sniff, sniff...SNIFF! Living out of a suitcase is chaos for me. I can't find anything. I get grouchy etc... SHAME! We are supposed to be having fun. Relaxing;)
And on this day we did. We found it!! We did absolutely nothing. We walked barefoot around the property. We laid by the pool. We took a simple walk down "our" lane. We found bliss in pinecones, tree carvings, wildflowers, birds tweeting...that never ending sound of rushing water.
We walked slow. We didn't rush. There was nowhere to be. No maps to follow. No clocks to watch. Just bears to scout for in the hills. Which much to my disappointment we didn't see:(
The girls easily fell into step here...playing Barbie. Role playing auditions. Romping with each other;) We did a little exercise routine in the living room every morning to get our blood flowing. We ate poptarts on the deck. We watched hours of The Voice curled up on the couch in a huddle. We found our groove. We captured the elusive relaxation unicorn and rode it hard.
By the end of our stay in Yosemite I never wanted to leave. I seriously never wanted to plug back in. It felt right the four of us. The remote location. The lack of a cell phone in my hand. The river rushing...beckoning me to listen. To listen. To see... to really SEE! And that my friends is what it really is all about. Now if only I could somehow incorporate those four days into my every.single.day. It's high on my priority list. Somehow...someway I will figure out:)
Hope you don't mind, but I've got soooo much more to share.
Be a blessing.
big bear hugs
gravel roads
the sound of rushing water
no cell phone reception
my people
nature in all it's glory
God's blessings
