Tuesday, February 19

a quiet retreat



The Mr and I spent the weekend alone together in a lovely little cabin in the Texas Hill Country. There was no cell phone or Internet service at the cabin. But there were three full patio doors opening onto a large deck overlooking pastures and trees and hills, and letting in floods of sunlight. And it was quiet. Oh, the quiet.



We drove there Friday by way of Comfort, Texas, so I could visit my favorite yarn shop. I bought two exquisite skeins of yarn, we had lunch at a sweet little cafe, and hit the road towards our ultimate destination, Foxfire Cabins near Lost Maples State Park.


We'd been looking forward to this for months. Our home and our days have been busier and more stressful than usual of late. My parents are visiting from Montreal and have been with us since late January. My mother-in-law came to stay with us just before Christmas, and there have been lots of doctors' visits and major surgery and lots more health concerns and lifestyle questions. Also, I am six months pregnant. Let's just say we feel we have earned this little escape.



One of my favorite aspects of a trip like this is packing, then setting up our temporary home. I love choosing all of the books and foods and mugs and clothes that we'll need and that will nourish and enliven our days. Weeks, even months prior to a trip I start making daydreamy packing lists, imagining what I'll read, what I'll knit, which favorite mug I'll want to drink from.
The unpacking is equally as lovely to me. As a through-and-through nester I love making up little corners and spaces, setting out the French press and salt and pepper shakers, making the bed (I usually bring my own sheets--I'm particular that way.) I set out and happily stack and pat my journal, poetry books in anticipation of all the time I'll get to spend with them. These days the preparation ritual also involves loading up the Kindle with lots of good stuff--especially when we won't have Internet access! Don't want to risk running out of reading material now, do we? (On this trip I read this, and this, and brought these two poetry books.)


Its lack of connection to the outside world was a big selling point for this cabin. And while I enjoyed being unplugged for two whole days, I have to admit it made me a little bit twitchy at first. To tell the truth I missed Instagram most of all, as I wanted to share the lovely images of our cabin as I was shooting them! But we both settled into the rhythm of it quite quickly, forgetting where our phones were and letting them run out of charge. When we popped in to the little general store nearby offering free wi-fi, I was pleasantly surprised how little time I needed to spend on my phone. Just a quick blog browse, and a phone call home to make sure all was well with the bear and grandparents. It was.



The Mr slept way in on Saturday morning, which gave me a nice long morning all to myself--the one thing in the world I relish the most. I made coffee and rosemary sourdough pan-fried toast with strawberry jam. I wrote in my journal. I read. And read. And read. I did a lovely long yoga practice. I do admit to feeling slightly sad, upon first waking up, not to be lifting a little tousled-haired PJ'd little boy out of bed to watch him stomp his little feet gaily into a fresh new day full of cars and trucks. It was a little weird to wonder, is this what our lives were like, all the time, before we had him? It feels so distant as to not even be a memory anymore--more like a faint dream from a previous life. But I settled in happily into two days of not being mama? mama? In truth, it was awesome. I missed him just enough.



Just enough to feel a little lost and sad when, on Sunday afternoon, we arrived home right at the beginning of an epic 3.5 hour nap. I peeked in at my sleeping boy several times before finally waking him up, needing so much to snuggle and love him up. As deeply good and restorative as it was to be away, it was equally sweet to be back home.

Can't wait to do this again in, oh, another two years or so?

1 comment:

  1. oh the missing bull sign. love that.

    also, love that you were able to get the time away, reconnect, recharge...i'm sure it was amazing!

    ReplyDelete

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