A Place to BE

Peaceful.  That is the one word I would use to describe how I felt last night.  It is amazing how one place can have so much power.  After waking up at 4 a.m., traveling by planes, trains and automobiles for twelve hours, just walking in the door and looking out of the windows made it all worthwhile.  As we drove those familiar roads for the hundredth time I looked out of the car as if I were seeing it all for the first time.  It is all brand new and yet so familiar and the same.

Hello my view, I have missed your vastness!

My first conscious memory of arriving at the shore was in the '60's ,we had driven up from Beaumont, Texas in a tan and orange VW van.  I am guessing I was about 6 or 7 years old.  We arrived in the pitch dark and had to stop at my aunt's cottage to pick up the keys to our cottage.  I remember waking up in the van and looking out into the dark and not knowing where I was.  It was spooky and fascinating.  I don't remember much about that summer except that it blurs together with all of the other childhood summers that make my heart swell when we come back.  This happens every year...every time I arrive... since I can remember.

So, last night as we opened the farmhouse after 8 1/2 months of living our "real" lives, we felt like we were being wrapped up in the arms of an old friend.  A friend with very cold arms as it was about 50 degrees inside and out.  After we unloaded all of the stuff TJ packed for his many months up here, my one suitcase and the groceries we bought, we walked around doing inventory.  An 8 1/2 month absence makes everything new again.  I have certain things up here that I just love and I miss them when I go away.  There are some pieces of art that make me happy when I see them.  There is the whirligig outside of my kitchen window that makes doing dishes fun.  There are the floors we put in when we renovated, that I luckily still love.  It is all stuff but it is all stuff that goes into making this place feel like my long lost home.

All my sun room needs now is the sun and
a few friends to share the view!

We were lucky last night and got to visit with some summer friends who were here for the "long weekend".  We just pick right up where we left off last summer and the one before.  Social media makes us more familiar with each other's lives than we really are though.  A blessing and a curse.  We did happily discover that one of the couples will coincidentally be in Prague next fall while we are there!  We are making dinner plans for sure!  The things you discover sitting and talking, which we do a lot of up here.

When the very long day was finally over and I sat here in the place I will sit many nights over the next few months, I felt an overwhelming sense of stillness.  It was quiet.  No television.  No air conditioner.  No cars driving by outside.  My brain needed this.  I am sure after a couple of days, especially if the rain continues, I will be ready for some noise but for now the peace is just what I needed.  We all need someplace to just...be.  This is mine.