Up until just a few months ago, I have lived my entire life in or within a few mile radius of Akron, Ohio. Most of the people that I know have also lived their entire lives in that same area. I know, or at least am acquainted with, many good people with big hearts that have always been kind, caring, compassionate and generous with not only us, but anyone else they come in contact with. But working in the public venue for most of my adult life I have also come into contact with just as many, if not more, selfish, rude and impolite people. Here's where I'm going with this... in the few short months of living here in these beautiful mountains, I have witnessed more of what most people would call "random acts of kindness" than I have in the past few years of living in Ohio. As a matter of fact, I would even be tempted to retitle them Common Acts of Kindness. Some are so touching that they will bring a tear to your eye. Some are actually kind of comical. One of the funnier ones that we were witness to happened just yesterday in the parking lot of our local Walmart. We were waiting behind a car to turn down an aisle to find a parking space. The car was sitting still for what seemed an extra long amount of time waiting to make its left turn. As there were no cars coming the opposite direction, Mountain Man and I began looking around to see what the holdup could be. There, standing at the end of the row of cars, was an elderly gentleman with a cane. You could tell by the way that he was standing that to walk was a chore for him. We realized that the lady in the car ahead of us was waiting and waving him across the crosswalk in front of her. After two waves and no movement on his part, she rolled down her window and kindly told the gentleman that she was waving him across and he was free to go. He then told her, I understand that, but I'm not crossing, just waiting here for someone! It brought to mind the old show Laugh In where the boy scout would pick up Ruth Buzzy, who was dressed as an old lady, and carry her across the street when she didn't want to go and she would end up beating him with her purse. This instance wasn't as animated or as violent for that matter, but still made us giggle. We have witnessed and been a part of so many acts of kindness here that there are just too many to mention.
On Friday of this week, Mountain Man was invited by one of our new friends to go with him to check out the hunting grounds in our area. Always up for a hunting adventure, Mountain Man gladly took him up on his offer. After a good four or five hours, they returned to our house to fill me in on their adventures. Expecting only to hear about the trails they found and the animals that they saw, I was only slightly excited to hear the tales they had to tell. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. The tale that they had to tell was about one of the most emotional acts of kindness that I have ever heard. You see, our new friend is of Cherokee decent. He was raised not to be proud of his heritage, but to not acknowledge that part of who he is. Therefore his children were also not raised to be a proud descendant of the native people. A few years ago, after learning much about his descendants and his heritage, he decided that he would like to have a statue erected in Meeks Park, our local community park, to honor the tribes of our area. He started a small fundraising campaign to obtain the $32,000 that it will cost for the statue to be commissioned. It will be sculpted by Daniel Horse Chief, who is of Cherokee, Pawnee decent and is from Oklahoma. This started out for our friend to be a tribute to his people who were not only stripped of their land, but also of their lives, to acknowledge that this is their home. This plan seemed to take on a life of its own. It has now gone way past the statue. Our friend is now waiting to be able to meet with the congressmen from here in Georgia to get approval from the federal government to officially welcome the tribes back to their original homes here in the four county area of the North Georgia Mountains. This might not sound like a big deal, but it would be the first time in our country's history that the native people have been officially welcomed back to the land that was stolen from them so long ago. In case you are wondering, this has nothing to do with the so called "Indian Casinos". This would be a much more personal welcome. No one thinks that there will be a mass exodus of the tribes that were displaced to Oklahoma back here to Georgia. After all, the people have lives and careers and homes where they reside now. What it will do is to open our communities and towns to anyone who would be interested in relocating, opening businesses and making a life in their true native land. There would be help set up to assist these people in reestablishing a life here in their mountains.
Mountain Man and I have always felt a strong connection to the native tribes. I'm not sure if it is just from our history lessons or if we were part of these tribes in another lifetime. Either way, I feel that this act is long overdue. Mountain Man and I feel blessed to have a friend that has sacrificed so much of his heart, time and not to mention personal funds, to extend this kindness to the most deserving of people.
If you are interested in learning more about this endeavor, please check out the webpage at We Are Still Here. It is a little outdated since it has taken longer to raise the funds and obtain the meetings that need to take place to make to make this happen. And until next week, let's all go out and commit some acts of kindness!
We have yet another beautiful Sunday morning here on our mountain. Sunny, cool breeze blowing, birds singing back and forth with one another, the mountainside is a little more kissed with the colors of autumn. Even though we are in a drought and desperately need rain, I still appreciate these beautiful mornings. This is my religion. This is my peace.
The eldest of our three mountain chillin' and her hubs came and stayed with us for a few days. We not only celebrated her birthday with a beautiful trail ride through the mountains, we put them to work. Mountain Man and I are blessed to have a wonderful family that is always willing to help each other with whatever needs to be done. Whether it is as simple as raking leaves to as complex as remodeling a house. It is awesome because there is no one keeping track of who helps the most or the least, it's just let's do this and get it done! This weekend, it was a major kitchen organization and painting a cathedral ceilinged living room. Thank goodness for tall kids and hubs! We were able to get a great deal done in a short amount of time which still left enough time for play. They also brought our grand puppy with them. It was so nice to have a dog's energy in our house again. This is something that I've missed since our Bailey found her time had come to go and live in another dimension. Her spirit is always with us, but it is also nice to be able to physically snuggle with a puppy.
Today we will slow our pace back down to mountain time. It's funny how quickly you acclimate to the slower pace of life here. It now feels more natural to me to take my time and relax as I do things instead of rushing. I feel that my body and mind are more in sync with my creator and the earth this way. I may not get as much done as quickly, but I feel that I do it better and more thoughtfully.
The only thing that is a must on our to do list today is to repair the sliding screen door that goes out onto the deck yet again. You see, it is a bad habit that Mountain Man and our oldest chile have acquired. They either ignore or forget about the doors. The oldest chile has actually given herself a pretty severe case of whiplash by walking into a patio door. More than once! Mountain man has also perfected this bad habit. Once while in Florida, I witnessed him walking into a glass patio door with such speed that I could actually see the glass bow. All I can say is thank goodness for hurricane and Mountain Man proof glass. Today's event was much more minor. After going inside from the deck, he closed the screen door behind him. A few minutes later, as I was sitting on the swing, I heard a crash and looked over in time to see the screen door come flying off the frame and into the deck rail and Mountain Man hot on its tail with a look of great shock on his face. I am grateful that the deck rail is a strong one, or he would have been testing his flying skills. There were no injuries incurred in this latest event, so feel free to laugh now! I have decided that I will not only buy an extra repair kit for the screen door, but I will be buying a few screen hangers to put on the screen in hopes of catching people's attention and warning them that the door is indeed closed!
This week, we will be working on the guest bedroom and bath. Check back next week to see what fun that brings!
Reading the title of this chapter of my blog probably brings to mind a beautiful autumn scene of a roaring waterfall amid colorful leaves gently falling from the forest of trees. You may even be able to imagine the cool mist of the falls along with the gentle breeze carrying the leaves. Yeah, well, you wouldn't be further from right! One day last week, after a full day of working to paint and update the master bathroom, I was getting cleaned up in the guest bathroom to make yet another trip to our local Home Depot. We are on a first name basis with most of the cashiers there now. As I said, I was getting cleaned up and Mountain Man was out on the deck working on one of his many projects. I finished in the shower, stepped out and turned off the water. I no sooner had the cold water shut off, turned to grab my towel and heard a whoosh and a thunk. I turned back around to see a torrent of water coming out of the wall so hard it was hitting the back wall of the shower. It was coming out where the cold water faucet used to be. I was grabbing at the shower curtain to try and contain as much of the water as possible in the tub while yelling for Mountain Man to shut off the main water valve. Being on the deck, he couldn't hear the water, only my desperate calls for help. MM came running in toward the bathroom, thinking that I had fallen in the shower. Once he saw what, looking back at it now, was quite a sight, me in all my glory battling an uncontrollable gush of water, he knew he was headed in the wrong direction and made a B line for the basement. Thank goodness, just the day before we had looked to see where the shut off valve for the entire house was, so he knew right where to go. I don't know if I ever told you this, but, Mountain Man's nickname is Mr. FixIt, so in a matter of minutes he had figured out that the entire cold water stem had unscrewed itself, or had never been properly screwed in. Either way, he had everything fixed quickly and was helping me sop up all of the water that managed to escape the shower.
A few days later, we had purchased a new toilet for the master bath and were installing it. I don't know how toilet savvy you are, but we had no idea that the new toilets come with a pump system instead of the old flapper system. They say that it gives you a much more powerful flush with much less water. I don't know about that, but I do know that it was more like working on a spaceship than a simple toilet! After much analyzing, reading, and rereading the directions, the unit was finally installed. We were ready for the "maiden flush"! Never having seen a "pump" toilet work, we decided to leave the lid off so we could watch the "super pump action" that this unit was advertised to have. That was our first mistake. Our second mistake was taking too literally the instructions saying not to over tighten the tank to the seat because it would cause cracking and breaking of either or both parts. So, with the excitement and anticipation of a child on Christmas morning, we flushed! No where in the installation instructions did it say that if the toilet is flushed without the lid on that the water will spray straight upward like a geyser. And you can imagine where the rest of the water went since the bolts for the tank were obviously not tightened enough! This time, I was the runner to get every available towel while Mountain Man shut off the water to the toilet and tried to contain the water that was quickly making its way toward our bedroom. After rereading the directions AGAIN and resecuring the bolts, all the while holding our breath that we wouldn't hear any cracking noises, we were ready for the longed perfect flush. As we are fast learners, we put the top on the tank this time and proceeded to flush. And the perfect flush it was. Not an errant drop of water anywhere. We were back in business!
After all of that excitement, I was ready for a break. On the back of our house we have a 40 foot long, 20 foot high deck that overlooks the mountain that we live on. With being up so high, I am able to sit and watch at eye level the leaves flutter on the trees and every once in a while, I am able to see one as it comes loose of the tree and floats to the ground. You always hear people talking about mindfulness. This is a perfect example of being mindful. Having
your mind relaxed and empty enough that you can totally, without even trying, focus on that one beautiful leaf's journey from limb to ground. Noticing nothing else around you. This is why I am here. This is why I love this place. To be able to take the time, calm my crazy mind and focus on the incredible perfection that is nature. To see all of the gifts that my creator has given to me so abundantly and that I rushed through life and totally missed out on until now. As my journey continues, I am anticipating many new and amazing experiences, even some wet and maybe less that perfect experiences and I am so honored to be able to share them with you. Thank you!
Anyone who has known me for very long knows of my love for music. It started at a very young age. Some of my earliest memories of music in my life are my mom playing the huge wooden console radio that sat in the corner of our dining room. WAKR was the station and that was back in the day when they played all the top hits. As she would lay out sheets on the dining room table and sprinkle them, one of her favorite songs would come on the radio. As she would be ironing sheets, I would be playing on the floor near her and we would sing "Red Roses for A Blue Lady" by Dean Martin. To this day, I can't hear that song without that vision coming to my mind.
On my brother's thirteenth birthday, I was three and I remember him getting his first record player. It was a portable in a red and white leather case that you had to take the top off of to play records. I think that I loved that gift even more than he did. A few of his first records were some of my favorite. One in particular, Lemon Tree by Peter, Paul and Mary was my absolute favorite. Looking back, I feel bad for my poor brother, every time the record player came out, I would beg him to play that record for me. He finally got so sick of it that he either threw out the record or gave it to a friend. I was never sure which, but I missed that song. From there, I learned the words to most of Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons songs. I still love their music.
For my first five years of school, I went to St. Paul's Catholic School. They never had much in the way of music class. In my fifth grade year, after having five long years of not fitting into the catholic school dogma, my parents finally put me in public school. Much to my delight, they had choir! A class where I could actually get to listen to music and sing for the whole hour! That quickly became my favorite class. From that point on, all I wanted to do was to be able to sing and play instruments. Unfortunately for me, I had relatively little talent in either area, but that never stopped my love and desire for music in my life.
I was never able to take piano or dance like most of my friends did, but that never stopped me! I would tag along with them to their lessons trying to pick up pointers as I sat quietly and watched. When my friends would get new dance costumes, I would gladly take their old ones and I would have them teach me the steps to the dances that they used them for. This led to my love of feeling the music move through my body and moving me to dance. This was one of my requirements when Mountain Man proposed to me. Will you always dance with me? The answer was obviously yes. We've been dancing now for 26 years.
All through the rest of my schooling, I always participated in choir and Singers. I've never figured out if the instructors had pity on me since I had such a sincere love of music or whether they were that desperate for bodies and voices. Either way, I loved every minute of it. I even got to sing a few solos throughout my high school years.
In my early adult life, my love of music stayed strong. I was now able to buy all of the albums then eight tracks and then onto cassettes and CDs that I wanted. My choice of music was widely varied. Once my Mountain Chillin' came along, I made sure that they had a variety of music in their lives also, starting with classical when they were newborns.
As life progresses, as it does sometimes, some of your favorite things fall by the wayside. Life gets too busy to make time for yourself and the things that you love most. This is what happened with me and music. For the last 10-15 years, sadly, music was not high on my priority list. I felt as if I had lost a close friend. A part of me was missing.
As Mountain Man and I are settling into our new house and our new community a little more, we are finding something that I had known in the past but I had not really thought about. The people of the south have music in their souls. They have a great amount of talent, a love and appreciation for it, and a desire to share it. Since we have been in the mountains, my old friend, music, is coming back to live on in my soul again. Every Friday and Saturday evenings, there is a free concert somewhere to enjoy. Fridays are usually at the old court house with a wide variety of music from blue grass to jazz. Saturdays are where everyone of the local bands is playing. The rest of the evenings are a step back to my childhood. We sit on the porch swing and listen to the radio. I still have all of my music collection. The only things that I have gotten rid of were the eight tracks. I was sad about that, but I had nothing left to play them on. I have replaced most of them with either cassettes or CDs.
I am so happy to have my old friend back again. My music fills me up. It moves my soul and more times than not, my feet. Welcome home, my dear friend, welcome home!
Yes, folks, you read that right. Mover, not movers. No, there is no plural there. There is also no 26 foot straight truck. Before I confuse you any more, please let me explain.
Last Tuesday afternoon, I received a call from our moving company stating that our movers, note the plural, would be arriving on Thursday morning. The movers, again note the plural, would be calling as they got closer to our home to let us know a more exact time to expect them. A few hours later, I received a text that was either very poorly spelled or very broken English, at that point I wasn't sure which, stating that he was on the road and would let me know when he would be arriving tomorrow. As in Wednesday. Hhhhmmmmm. Already something doesn't seem right, but I'll go with it. If they do come on Wednesday, that would be fine since we were now ready for them. We spent all Wednesday morning working around the house, waiting for our long anticipated call. By early Wednesday afternoon, we decided to go out and do some shopping while we waited since we would be within a half an hour of our house and could get back before the movers if they call. It was a lovely afternoon. We shopped, ate, and went for a ride to scope out a riding stable for Mountain Man. Finally, on our way home from the stable at about 5:30, I got a call from the movers. They were in Tennessee and would be in Blairsville at around 8:30 if they didn't hit any traffic or get lost and would like to start the delivery then! I don't know about you, but I for one think that its a very bad idea to start a move at my bedtime. Ok, so I'm not really in bed at 8:30, but I do like to have my jammies on and be relaxing with a good book before bed. Thinking that this was one of the worst ideas that I had heard lately, and believe me, I've heard A LOT of really crappy ideas in these past few months, I promptly called the moving company and plead my case. The compassionate fellow on the other end of the line agreed with me about the poor timing and called off the move til 7 a.m. on Thursday.
Thursday morning, we were up bright and early ready and waiting. We had coffee and waited. We cleaned up the kitchen and waited. We sat on the swing on the deck and waited. Finally, a little after 8:30, the movers are here!!! We heard them coming down the gravel road at the bottom of the mountain. Mountain Man walked up the drive way and down the road to meet them and instruct them on the best way to get up our road and down our drive without going over the edge of the road. He wasn't gone long. Not nearly long enough and when he came back, there was no moving truck following him and he wasn't smiling and whistling. For any of you that know my Mountain Man, know that if he stops whistling, things are NOT going his way. I met him at the door already knowing that the news I was about to get was not good. Without me even asking, he wasted no time telling me that our movers was just a mover and our 26 foot straight truck was an under powered 24 foot flat bed truck pulling a 35 foot overloaded low slung enclosed trailer that would not only be able to make it up our road, but definitely would NEVER make it down our driveway. Oh, and our "mover" had arrived in this country seven months ago from Siberia and spoke very broken English. I had to see this to believe it! I got in my car and drove down the road with Mountain Man in tow. I drove, not because I am too lazy to walk, but because our cell phones get no reception at our house and our new land line wasn't working. But that's a whole other story. So, down the road we drove, I met "Paul" who was very confused and apologetic and I left Mountain Man with him while I drove to our friends on the other side of the mountain so I could use their phone. I explained the situation to Mountain Friends and as we were discussing the predicament, I realized that I was working with very limited time since the moving rig, if you can call it that, was blocking a good portion of the road leading up to ours. Not a good foot to get off on with our new neighbors.
I've always been good at thinking on my feet and this time was no different. I looked up the phone number for the moving company in Blairsville, called and plead my case. They obviously have dealt with mishaps like this before because they were awesome! Within two hours they had three guys and a straight truck on their way. While our mover waited for the other movers to arrive, he had to unpack almost half the trailer onto the roadside because he was also moving a household to the Orlando area when he left our house! Mountain Man stood and watched this whole escapade take place, met and visited with all four of our neighbors as they came by to see what the ruckus was on their quiet mountain. Everyone was very sympathetic to our plight and was very friendly. What a way to meet the neighbors!
We also had time to get acquainted with "Paul" and learn that he came to our country to try and make a better life for his family. He is trying to get settled and then will bring his wife and ten year old daughter over. You never know what other people are going through unless you take the time to listen to them. We also learned a great deal about life in Russia and also how a person new to the United States perceives our country. Needless to say, this was an awesome reminder of the gratitude that we should always have for our awesome lives and the people in them.
Once the other moving company got here, within three hours everything was transferred from trailer to truck and was unloaded into the house. The local moving company guys were such a great bunch of guys. Seeing that our mover was new to this country, they really helped him out and explained easier ways to do things. They even helped him reload his truck and got him on his way again. It was really beautiful to see how some good old boys from Georgia took a foreigner from a foreign land under their wing, even despite the language barrier.
Just as the movers were all leaving, our Mountain Friends pulled in with two bottles of wine to help us celebrate our move. After an evening of celebrating and enjoying their company, we woke the next morning to a house full of boxes. After working to make sense of things, we took a break and Mountain Man left to walk down to our mailbox. A guy in a four wheeler from the other side of the mountain stopped and gave him a ride. Mountain Man introduced himself and the first thing the guy said was "heard you had quite a moving experience yesterday!" News does travel fast in these here mountains!
After three looooong and, at times, trying months, our house finally closed on Thursday, September 8. To say that we were not only overjoyed but also greatly relieved is an understatement. After signing our lives away with at least 100 signatures, we received our long coveted keys and took our first trip up Wilson Mountain as new home owners. With all of the giddiness of a couple of teenagers, Mountain Man and I hurriedly unlocked the lock and walked through the door of our dream home, which now after the long humid summer months of being locked up with no air circulation reeked of mildew. After closer examination, EVERYTHING had a coat of that fine white powdery mildew covering it. YUCK! Oh well, no time to fret, we were leaving for our beach vacation the very next morning. So after a quick repacking, off we went for our week at the beach. It was a fun and hectic week. The grands were great fun as usual. Mountain Man's Mountain Sis and her hubby were even able to come spend a few days with us which always is a good time. I have always felt a very strong connection to the ocean and its inhabitants. This time was no different. I was once again blessed to be able to be in the water when a school of dolphins swam by. The energy that they share is amazing. Whenever I am lucky enough to be near them and receiving their energy, I also send Reiki to them. I only hope that they feel the wonderfulness of the energy share that I do. Needless to say, the week flew by. We arrived back on our mountain late Saturday afternoon. Sunday was spent shopping for our necessary arsenal of bleach, Odoban and other assorted cleaners and smell good items. We took the rest of the day to regroup, smudge the house, and rest up. Sunday afternoon it rained all afternoon. To be able to sit on our covered porch overlooking the mountains while listening to the rain fall gives me the truest sense of peace and contentment that I have ever felt. All is right with the world.
We received word that the Movers would be here either Wednesday or Thursday. Let the cleaning frenzy begin! By 10:00 Tuesday night, not a single surface in our house has been left untouched. Mountain Man and I were thoroughly exhausted and hurt in places we didn't even know we had. After emptying the last bucket of water from the carpet scrubber in the guest bathroom, Mountain Man went down the basement to make sure all of the lights were turned off. I was finishing cleaning everything up when all of a sudden up the basement stairs he flew faster than I'd seen him move in a long time. It seems that all of the buckets of water that we'd been dumping in that bathtub, probably 50 or more that day alone, were now on the basement floor. The trap in the tub drain had come off! No wonder it drained so well! Now, after much mopping and scrubbing, the basement floor is also clean and disinfected!
The movers will be here at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to the simple things, like having a paper basket in my bathroom and a real mattress (air mattresses aren't bad for a night or two) to sleep on. After working in our new home these last few days, I know that I packed waaayyy too much. We will be purging much of what will be delivered here tomorrow. Who needs to live in a cluttered indoors when we have the perfection of nature out our back door?
What fascinating people and beautiful land that we have moved to. Since our house didn't end up closing until this past Thursday, we had many days to fill. We filled them by visiting most of the shops and restaurants in Blairsville and the near by towns of Blue Ridge, and Young Harris Georgia and Murphy North Carolina. Everyone that we came in contact with and talked with were very friendly and gracious. I'm sure that it was because of our lack of accent or too much of an unfamiliar one, people always ask where we hail from. Most of the time when we tell people Ohio, they usually were at one time, knew someone who was or were at least curious about the state, which always started a fairly long conversation. Blairsville has a very large summer population of Floridians who have homes that they come to so that they can get out of the summer heat of Florida. So many times when stopping into the local shops the people usually ask if we are from Florida. Once, while in the local hair salon getting my hair done, a gentleman that works there, assumed that I was one of the Floridians, asked me what part of Florida I was from. When I said that I was from Ohio, he thought for a moment and then asked, "is that near Clearwater?" Hmmm.
While in Murphy, we went into a sweet little shop that had everything from jewelry to Indian and spiritual items. The store was divided into small rooms. As I entered the second of five rooms, all at once I felt a great peace come over me. I couldn't help but smile. It felt like I was home. The shopkeeper came in and started talking with me. I shared with her that I am a Reiki Master and before you know it we were involved in a deep personal conversation and, I'm still not sure if it was the energy of the room, the mountains or just the moment, but, without any information from her, I was able to share with her some problem areas in her life and give her some positive reinforcement and encouragement. A few more customers then came in and we ended our visit. It was an incredibly spiritual experience. A few days later I ran into her in our local coffee shop and she shared that with the encouragement that I was able to offer, she had mustered up the courage to start making the changes in her life, and heading in a more positive direction. I feel that it was a true gift that I was able to help this beautiful soul.
The downtown motel that we spent the last week in had two comfy rocking chairs right outside our door. Needless to say, we spent many hours sitting and rocking and visiting with other guests and the owners of the motel. The other motel guests were from all over the country, and many had very interesting life stories that they shared with us. The owners were a wonderful couple that we had much in common with on many levels. On Wednesday evening, it was almost dark when a car dropped off an Appalachian Trail hiker and his dog. They had come off of the trail to get supplies. When they got out of the car that gave them a ride, the dog, a beautiful black German Sheppard, trotted right over to our truck in the parking lot and waited to get in. The hiker called him back, they stopped by our rockers and visited for a few minutes before going to their room for a good night's sleep. The next morning, we were sitting outside enjoying a cup of coffee when the hiker and his dog came out. After taking care of business, they stopped by. They ended up talking with us for more than an hour. During the course of conversation, we realized that we connected on a very spiritual level. When it was time for him to leave, he said that he needed to call for a shuttle to return him to the trail head. Mountain Man and I decided that we would offer to give him a ride back so we could continue our visit. Hiker gladly accepted our offer of a ride. His dog ran to the truck and waited to be let in. The dog actually knew the night before that he was to go for a ride in our truck. Dogs are very perceptive! We drove up the mountain to the trail head. There was a beautiful old stone building on top of the mountain with an overlook with the most breathtaking view I have ever seen. After taking in the view, and taking some pictures, we sat down and continued our conversation. Before we knew it, more than two hours had flown by. Mountain Man's phone rang and on it was our realtor with the good news that we had been waiting for. Our house was going to close in two hours! It was a perfect gift to end a perfect day. We bid our new friend, who by now, we felt as if we had known a lifetime, a fond farewell and headed back to town to prepare for our trip to the attorney's office.
I am really beginning to understand how good mountain living is for me. The relaxed pace is helping me to realign myself with spirit and open myself on a much deeper level. Human connections are coming on a much more open and honest plane. It seems as if Spirit is connecting us with more and more like minded people all the time. I am beginning to feel that I may be finding my soul purpose here in this new home of ours.
