Sunday Snippet: The Closing Up the Lake Edition

It’s quiet here at the lake this weekend. There is a sort of abandoned feeling in the air here in our little lake community. Most folks have already closed up their cottages for the season; a few (like us) hang on a bit longer. But this is our weekend to close up, winterize the cottage, and leave the lake for another year.

Fall is definitely on the way out. The cottonwoods and maples and walnut trees have pretty much dropped all their leaves. (Mostly on our deck, roof, and driveway) On our way up to the lake yesterday, the soybean fields and cornfields were harvested and empty. Winter wheat will go in soon, I imagine! Passing by them reminded me of when we used to ride our horses through the empty fields around the boarding stable. My Tennessee Walker, Shadow, loved to get into the gait and fly across a freshly harvested soybean field. Man, that was a high!

I’m ruminating on changing seasons, but also thinking about life changes–how much has changed since we bought our lake cottage fourteen years ago. The group of friends who’d been here for years immediately took us in like a couple waifs and shared their camaraderie and love, no questions asked.

Over the years. we’ve spent more beer-30s than I can say on someone’s deck or porch, including ours, sipping beverages, snacking, and chattering like we didn’t see each other every day. Husband and I heard so many stories and shared some of our own that first few years, but how things have changed up here. We’ve lost two dear ones to cancer, others have sold and moved on, we are all aging and feeling the years in our hips and knees. Our little group of twelve has shrunk considerably, but it’s also growing again with new lake folks coming in. New friends are always a blessing.

Change is inevitable–I’ve learned that in over 70 years of life, but the knowing doesn’t make the fact any easier to swallow, and sometimes…not always, but sometimes, like on weekends such as this one when we’re shutting down a huge part of life for a few months, I wish time could stay exactly as it is for just a little bit longer. That said, there are the holidays to look forward to and the almanac says we’re going to have a snowy winter—what delight! We have firewood and eggnog and a brand new Christmas tree. There are joys ahead this winter!

Change is hard, but if we roll with it, life can be very good.

Gratitude for this week: Grandboy helped us split and stack firewood and discovered the fun of the log splitter, DIL’s birthday was a sweet family time; A good work day with Liz on Wednesday; Thanksgiving is coming up this week; I got my teeth cleaned and the dentist declared me cavity-free and I have great gums! YAY!

Stay well, stay safe, speak up, we all must—it’s how we’ll save our democracy, always choose kindness, and most of all, mes amies, stay grateful!

FYI: A Small Town Christmas is still a free e-book at all retailers–Hope you’ll grab it if you haven’t already read it!