... how many ladles have dipped in celebration?
The years of sojourners to the place have testimony on the beside table... 
we thought it was an extravagant decadence... really it was the kid's favorite surprise for first time visitors.... along side the archaic giant of a jacuzzi!
Remember all the kids and the huge bubble baths in their swimsuits?
... the the strange kitty who chose us the first year we were there... was it really over 30 years ago?
How many strategists have sat around this table playing Risk, Scrabble or Uno?
The map is outdated now...
and this table... has to be over 55 years old.... did I really learn to walk holding onto it's edges?
....the decor changes, but the feeling of the room is always the same.... inviting me to rest after a day of skiing, or pulling kids on their skis,
or now... chasing grand kids up and down the stairs.
Mornings always begin here. How many conversations? How many life changing choices?
How many Spirit led discussions, what I'd call divine appointments?
oh so very many!!!
and then the climb!!!!
Who can forget the climb?
It used to be easier to make the 100s of steps... up and down the site that everyone said... 
And finally you get to the last leg of the journey to the dock... yes, there really was a black panther that slept beneath that ledge before we were the first to build on the slough... even eagles nested there across the slough from us. The farmers and ranchers of the area were probably pleased when the golf course took its place... 
Across the bridge to the dock, and off we go!!!
I met this guy while he worked on boats...
if he'd been shorter he would have been on the race team for the shop where
he fixed, tried and tested
the over 100mph boats kept only in the water by the propellers they sported.
Thank You Lord for making him TALL!!!)
Funny to see a little boy in the place where my 2 girls sat watching each thrill seeker take a turn. Guess little boy's swim trunks don't have the same problem little girl's suits do.... right El?
Then the signals....
I'm thinking this will be an all too familiar sight for the next years!
... and that table I learned to walk around???? well guess who is walking around it now?
54 years later!
Some things have changed...
we now have a beach where there were once only mesquites and cows!
Then the guy with the megaphone moved into the slough buoys,
and things have never been the same...
oh yes, there are also no buoys to rent either...
only REALLY expensive docks with trapeze swings, new boats, and matching Seadoos....
Yep, some things have surely changed!
But some things haven't...
Our steps on this journey are made matching strides of those that have walked it in front,
beside or behind us...
and then, even better,
WE get to hold their hands as THEY stand and learn to walk on their own!
God is so good!
I love the precious memories that flooded my heart as I drove to this familiar place,
and then......to get to make new memories!!!!
the circle is ever widening and yet,
it funnels back to the same exact place....
Love, Family, and my precious LORD!
