This Too Shall Pass, July in My Rearview Window

I am who I am, and I'm leaning I  am good enough!

This past three weeks has been full of action. Since the 10th of July I have been preparing for travel (taking son on a tri-state trip to a great camp in the SE mountains), stopping in our old hometown to deal with details in preparing our former home for tenants (and all the resulting "problems" of home ownership like maintenance, repair, and contracting for work to be done), returning to our new home, and packing up yet again for my husband and I to have our own week camping in the North Carolina mountains. 

Our parent-only vacation itself was a wonderful pause  in our unpacking process.  DH and I had  our first bittersweet experience of empty-nest-syndrome.  For our first time in our years of staying in this National Forest area, we had no rain to speak of, though it had rained for weeks before our arrival!  Campsite #9 was awaiting us, for the first time in six years.  

 It was neat eating meals we knew our son might not like as well as we do.  It was also interesting to indulge in adult conversation and to never hear the words, "I am bored."  We also got reacquainted during our daily hikes together.  One was more than ten miles. Another was an uphill hike to the tallest peak in the area.  

On one return hike, we espied a swimming hole on the Nantahala River that beckoned me to return. DH was not up for the cold water, but  I took myself back for a solo immersion in mountain water.  

Friday,  we picked up our son from camp knowing he might not want more time in the mountains. But time apart had changed our relationship, giving him new choices.   I was surprised he was willing to indulge in a short swim the first day. Our final day in camp, we lingered together, with my son honing skipping rocks while I sat in the cold water and meditated.

Alas the refreshing pause had to come to an end.

Just two days ago, we headed out of the mountains, stopping in our old home town.  We arrived in time for me to meet with my ladies' bee and spend time knitting and catching deep and meaningful yarns from one another's lives. 

Our old house had a new family living in it, so  DH, son and I stayed at the bee hostess's home that night. Her son had also been at the same camp so each of us felt at home. 

Leaving Georgia yesterday was the most bittersweet aspect of our entire round-trip journey. I felt again the pangs of leaving the beloved community that nurtured our family through from our son's infancy to his early teens.