How Wonderful Life Is
"Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated.” – Osho
Hello Dear Friend,
It was the eve of my mom’s birthday when I journeyed down the mountain towards their home nestled in the foothills of the Carolina’s to begin her birthday festivities. I had promised her earlier in the day that I would come over that night to have a drink out on the patio under the twinkle lights in the October night air and figure out what we were going to do to celebrate her birthday since I was taking the day off from work.
After dinner had been eaten and everything was cleaned up I spent my evening going back and forth from the back porch, chilling and enjoying the evening outside with my mom and going back into the house to help my dad locate some gift wrap. This hunt led the two of us into the garage and in the company of a very large spider. As I was digging through the large plastic boxes hunting for yellow as my dad had requested I hoped that spider was the only living creature we’d come across as my outstretched hand kept reaching into the dark shadows. Luckily the spider was the only thing we encountered and I even found some bright yellow tissue paper to go along with the vibrant, leaf patterned, gift bag my dad had chosen from another box, to use for his present to my mom.
I returned to my mom and was surprised to find her still on the porch since I’d been gone a while. Yes, she did wonder where I had disappeared too and she even thought that maybe I’d abandoned her. We hung out a bit longer before heading into the house and shortly after that we both decided to turn in since our plans for her birthday would have us starting early.
We’d decided to get up before the sun and go to the Blue Ridge Parkway to watch the sunrise. Our chosen overlook was a favorite to many and on this very chilly morning we sat in front of the car on an outstretched blanket watching the day awaken along with all the other early risers. Wishing we’d brought some hand knit hats and gloves we huddled fairly close to each other and snapped pictures of the upcoming sun while we drank our tea/coffee. The day was rather cloudy and truth be told we were lucky to have been able to actually see the sunrise as the clouds moved in. After some time we looked at each other thinking the same thing…on to our next stop. So we got up and jumped into the car, cranked up the heat and turned on the heated seats as we motored on to one of the local lakes that connects to several trails to see what kind of treasures it might hold.
We decided we’d just make one quick lap around the lake and then we’d go on to something with more of a view. Towards the end of our walk we stumbled across some deer playing in the shallow water below the pathway. What a special treat, we were both thinking as we watched them play. I swear they knew we were there watching them too because they started to play their own version of hide-and-seek with us and would duck into the tall grass and foliage whenever we’d attempt to take pictures of them. It seemed they knew as soon as are cameras were put away because that's when they’d jump out of the marsh and leap into plain view. After some time passed we started walking again towards the car and on to our next chapter in our mother-daughter adventure.
Pulling into the parking lot of a larger lake that feeds into the dam we set out onto its 2.3 mile trail that takes you around the lake and through the campground taking our time and stopping frequently to record the day through pictures. When we finished up we both snagged some water and a breakfast bar since by this point we were a little hungry. Soon after, we were off again, chasing down our next adventure.
The Blue Ridge Parkway was crazy busy looking like a bunch of ants climbing and descending from an anthill. It was Peak after all! I suppose it’s not hard to see why all the leaf-lookers were out playing hooky and using up vacation days. So we became one of them as we parked the car along the road, dodged across the road between passing travelers, and then marching alongside it to prime picture taking locations. We spent some time trying to capture the vibrancy and the beauty of the mountains during peak season but you just can’t get it the way your eyes see it. Like I said, it didn’t stop us from trying!
By the time we finished getting our fill of picture taking we were pretty hungry and ready for a late lunch. My mom pulled into a small, not so populated, overlook and starts to pull out a little cooler to build some sandwiches. Earlier I had casually asked her what the plan was for dinner and her response didn’t sound very extravagant for a birthday meal so as she’s beginning to prepare for a picnic I ask if she wants me to treat her to an Italian restaurant we like instead. Enough said! She immediately puts whatever was in her hand back into the car and says, “Boy! That sounds good!” Quickly acting like nothing else exists we head back towards town.
We had a lovely lunch and it was well worth the wait! They even threw in a complimentary, rich, chocolaty, delicious dessert that was very festive with “Happy Birthday” decoratively spelled out on the plate in chocolate and caramel sauce.
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed by like a blur. Time was spent traveling back home, wrapping up her presents and writing in her card, getting my laundry done while she fixed dinner and looked through her pictures from the day, posting pictures to social media, taking selfies together while wearing blue hats to bring awareness against bullying, eating dinner, telling my dad about the day, eating dessert, and watching my mom open her gifts in between birthday phone calls. Oh yeah and I talked with my brother briefly after she thrust me the phone. I ended the evening posting a birthday message to her Facebook wall along with a photo I’d taken of her earlier that day.
All in all I think it was a pretty awesome day. That's my option anyway. We filled our time with confetti moments, love, laughter, good conversation and the joy found in each others company. I couldn’t have asked for a better day with one of my favorite adventure buddies as we celebrated her beautiful life!
With love,
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