Away

Last weekend we got away. Away from the Cities and traffic. Away from the school books and computers. Away from the busyness of life that so often overshadows the simple of joys of life. We went to one of our favorite places in the whole wide world. We escaped to heaven on earth.

A place with clear, flat water.

A place with majestic cliffs, moss covered rocks, beckoning paths.

We paddled through deep, quiet water, breathed in wild, fresh air, listened the to haunting calls of the loons, laughed around warm fires when everything else was cold and wet.

Ahhhh, home. This is where my heart would live if it could. This is the place of my dreams. We've come here many times before, but it has been years. Long before jobs and weddings and babies, Hubs introduced me to this breathtaking place called the Boundary Waters. And a part of me has never left; the reunion this past weekend was so sweet. So needed. So rejuvenating.

I never see God so clearly as I do when I am in the wild. His majesty is undeniable here.

I caught dinner Saturday night.

Northern never tastes as good as it does up here. Especially when we fished for hours in the rain to get it. Fish, Lipton Noodles and Smores are the most exquisite meal.

Everything is sweeter in the wild. When you have to build the fire to make the hot water for coffee, it tastes richer. (The fact that we had Starbucks Via didn't hurt, either -thanks Mom!)

When you have to gather the kindling and chop the wood yourself, the fire seems warmer, brighter. Of course, if someone were to forget the hatchet in the car and your husband has to get really creative to "chop" the wood, it is even that much better. Yeah, that would be me. Oops.

For as long as I've been a mother I've dreamed of sharing this love, this beauty, this heaven on earth with my kids. We planned to take Little Man this time, but the weather was a little too wet and cold so we left him with Grandma. But maybe next year. As we slid silently through the water, I couldn't help but feel sad that I will never get to share this with Jameson. I truly hope and pray for a Boundary Waters in Heaven. Someday, I want to camp, canoe and fish with my boy.

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." -William Shakespeare