Tranquility

Tonight I went up into the canyon with my kids for a cook-out. It was really fun. The place we go isn't far from our house, but it's far enough to feel like you're in the mountains. There is a little stream that runs through it and tall trees all around. I think the birds sing more beautifully there too, or at least they are easier to notice. I've been there a lot in the past two years. It's been my retreat. When things got too painful I would just load everybody up and drive up there. I always came back feeling better. The kids did too. Being up in the mountains has a way of soothing the ache. It ached so much sometimes. You know how you feel when you get the air knocked out of you and you can't breathe for a minute? That was how I felt almost all the time. Well, tonight I was thinking about all this and suddenly I realized that the ache was gone. I just felt whole inside. For the first time in a long time I wasn't in the canyon for reprieve from the pain, I was just there for fun. It makes me think that there is something to what they say. . . it takes two years to get over a divorce. It will be two years at the beginning of July. (My personal independence day.) More and more now the storms in my soul are clearing up and I just feel peace. Its a nice feeling.