A Breather

I just wrote a super long, extremely boring post.

DELETE, you are my friend and have served the best interest of all of us here.

Moving on . . .

Monday is the hubster's and my thirteenth wedding anniversary. How awesome is that?! Pretty awesome. We have always tried to be diligent and intentional about getting away; from things, to things, for things. It gets more tricky with more us-es, but it also gets more crucial. We love and are in-love. That's our reality everyday. We laugh and we talk and we work together and we support one another. But the getting away, the selah moments, just simply afford something to us, to Us, that we just simply need.

He and me. That's it.

We love the kids; passionately, wholey, unconditionally. But they will grow up. They will leave. They will become transient in our home. And He and Me will remain. If we want to know each other then we have to keep learning each other now. If we still want to see each other then we have to make eye contact now. Then, I want to still remember the rightness I feel in holding his hand and having mine held in his. We can cultivate these things in the everyday, but getting away is good.

Getting away is really good.

We had an awesome plan that would've included planes and unbelievable accomodations (sniff, sniff, operamama...) while pretending to be native New Yorkers. It was a fabulous plan. But it didn't work out.

I know. Everybody take a minute to groan and mourn the failure of the plan. It's okay. We had to, too. But this ends well, I assure you.

We regrouped, put our game face back on, and made another plan. And though I would've loved to escape to NYC and to show Ma Luffin' Mayun new sights and sounds, the new plan is lovely and organic and simple and comfy and right. And coincidentally, it totally falls in line with all things winnowish (hey, it could be a word. Need I remind you "bootylicious" made it into the dictionary? It's the end of the world as we know it...but I feel fine).

We will take Brilliant Beauty to school as usual on Monday and then take Little Big Man and Pretty Baby to KakiBlackBarry's, one of the Us-es' homes-away-from-home, second only to Tunan's/Papa's and Nana's/Pawpaw's. After that we will depart for the north Georgia mountains, to a place called Amicalola Falls. There is an awesome spot we have wanted to go for years, but just haven't until now. It is called Hike Inn and the only way to access it is to "hike in" a little over five miles, where dinner and a sunset await. You can read more about it here, but let me show you some pictures.



Nice, huh? I think so. The room accomodations are certainly rustic. We will sleep in bunk beds (this makes me laugh just to type it). There are no TVs or computers or phones, etc. Just trees and sunshine and mountains and us (and likely some "granolas" running the place). This is where we will spend Monday night. Apparently if the sunrise is particularly spectacular (or maybe even mediocre...can sunrises be mediocre?) on Tuesday morning, someone will beat a drum loudly to wake us all up to see it. Could you imagine anything more romantic? Okay, maybe not the drum, but whatever...

On Tuesday we will hike another five+ miles back out and spend Tuesday night at the Amicalola Falls Lodge. Where Hike Inn promises a simple and rugged experience, the Lodge will afford us a king-sized bed, jacuzzi tub, kitchenette, private balcony, electricity in general, and other great amenities. We will be occupying the executive suite on our visit. Here's some pictures I snagged of the Lodge and, again, the falls.



I think it's pretty nifty to get such a spread of experiences in one three-day/two-night excursion. In addition to the accomodations we will have dinner and breakfast provided at Hike Inn, and breakfast provided at Amicalola Lodge. Those are nice perks.

Here are a few things that make this trip winnowish:
-it's more affordable because of it's nearby location
-the total cost for our accomodations (including the three meals mentioned above) falls under $350.00
-the obvious absence of technology and even creature comforts at Hike Inn provides us with a good quantity of time that we will hopefully chock full of quality

So, yeah. I'm pretty excited. Actually, I'm really excited.

It's hard to leave the kids. But it's harder to not break away every so often and to remember and experience a fuller otherness than being Daddy and Mommy.

Afterall, it started with Us...
Once upon a time (1997) . . .

And they lived happily ever after (2010) . . .