November 28th, 2013 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
I just got back from a family Thanksgiving get together with my parents and sister. As I laid there in bed last night after a busy day, I was wishing for simpler days again.
See, my parents have a house (we call it a cabin) on a great trout fishing river. My heathens...I mean my children... were out for Thanksgiving break all week. My mother has not had great health over the past 2 years, thanks to numerous bowel obstructions which has caused 4 surgeries and about 8 hospitalizations I think...we lost count, so she requested the holiday to be spent with them. She wanted my family of 4 and my wonderful step sister's family of 5 to come stay in a cabin that sleeps 9 comfortably. I am awful at math but even I can figure out that people out number the beds in this situation. Thankfully, we are all game, or dumb, and said yes. We put up cots in each bedroom as one bedroom had 4 twin beds and the other had one twin and one queen. My four stayed in the queen and put the smaller cot off to the side and Monkey slept in it. My sister's family lined up the twins in their room and put the cot in the middle and my brother in law got the honors of that one.
So we all arrived on Tuesday with food and belongings in hand and filtered into the cabin. We stayed up late that night and watched Avatar (my step dad is a movie freak). At 11pm (3 hours past my rug rats bedtime) we climbed into bed. We all completely collapsed from exhaustion. Between the 2+ hour drive (where the elevation climbs, the roads get twistier, and Monkey gets more car sick...) the excitement of seeing family, maybe a glass of wine...maybe, and a long evening we were smooth worn out. We slept until 7am (which I might add is NOT my usual waking time on my off days) where the call of coffee and the smell of bacon woke us up.
I love this time because not only do I not have to deal with work, which means technology in my face constantly beeping or beckoning me, but it allows me to slow down and enjoy the world around me especially my family. There is a small hill to the east where the front of the house faces. The sun had not made its way over it yet and there is always a mist on the river due to the temperature differences, which you can see from the side windows. It is the most calming peace I have experienced when I am up there and see this. The sun had not been up long, the air is calm and frigid, and the animals are going about their daily activities and I get to watch, with coffee in hand, all of it unfold. I had my pj's on, a fire was going in the fireplace, and the smell of coffee and bacon were wafting thru the kitchen as I breathed all of this scene in. I wanted to bottle that moment in time...and then the kids came back into the kitchen. Poof quiet moment was gone!
Hubby, began feeling the pull of the river after breakfast and disappeared. By the time I noticed he was missing, I saw his figure go by the window as he was heading towards the low spot in the river. I grabbed the camera (and unfortunately did NOT grab my coat...brrrr) and snuck down to the area he was fishing in and taking pictures the entire way. I got to about 100 yards of him and snapped more photos and he was blissfully unaware of my presence. Only himself, the bubbling of water running past him as he waded, and the wind was all he heard and felt. I am sure that he too wished he could have bottled that moment...minus the wind and windchill!
We began prepping Thanksgiving lunch mid-morning and ate late afternoon on Wednesday. My dad smoked the turkey and the rest of us had made the various fixings of sweet potato casserole, purple hull peas, green beans wrapped in bacon, mashed potatoes, and crescent rolls. We also had chocolate pie, peanut butter no bakes, lemon bars, spice cake, and pumpkin bread for dessert. I felt like a pig being readied for the slaughter! I was so darn full!
Now here is the part where I began to think about last night in bed wishing I had NOT had that third cup of coffee in the afternoon or that glass of tea at dinner... Post dinner, we were all sitting around chatting looking at magazines and discussing decorating while the kids and men watched movies on TV. I looked at the clock because it felt late and it was only 6:30. It made me remember when I was kid we would go camping and we would get up early and then stay busy either building something, or cleaning up an area, or hike all day. By the time it got dark, we had eaten and then visited for a bit. You were tired and ready for bed because there were not electronics distracting you or falsely making your sleep cycle get off kilter. You went to bed at dark just like the pioneers did because the chores were done . So at 6:30 my internal clock was tired because of the busy day and the darkness outside and I was ready for bed! I wasn't allowed to disappear yet though. When the boys were done watching the movie, we all jumped up and ran outside all bundled up and looked at the stars. There are no street lights, or building lights to muddy the scene of stars like there is where my hubby and I live. The girls and I had done the same thing back in August when we were last up as I knew they would not experience an uninterrupted sky like they have up there. Despite the frigid air (when we got up the next morning it was 18) we had a blast spotting stars, shooting stars, and airplanes. After that trip, I lasted until about 9pm and then finally got into bed before 10 after I got the kids settled and my things corralled for the night. It was an awesome day.
While I do not wish for the simplicity of no indoor bathrooms, no running water, electricity, or technology; I do wish for the fact that when you came home from work you were able to disconnect and wind down and you were not reachable 24/7. No wonder we are always stressed out because we never really get away from the stress. Hubby smartly left his phone so that he could enjoy the fishing and nature. I didn't check mine as I was with my family so I didn't worry I missed a text either. We were able to disconnect for once, except for my dads 60" TV!
We ate too much, visited, fished, lazed around, went for a walk down some train tracks, laughed, cried (Lawyer decided to fall down the stairs and knock the breath out leaving a nice scrape and my niece had an awful vomit inducing migraine) but basically we relaxed and had fun. True relaxation is something we don't really often achieve anymore. Even Monkey and Lawyer were behaved and not wild for once so I could relax. They were not pumped up full of sugar or chemicals these days. I wish I could say that for today as we just sipped hot chocolate on this chilly evening. I may pay tomorrow for what I let them have today and find myself wistful again for times gone by...
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