Going Home

I grew up in the most beautiful place in the world. Well, as I am not much of a world traveler, unlike my mom who is in Africa right now, I'll just say with certainty that it is the most beautiful place in California.

This little piece of nirvana is remotely isolated from the fast pace of everyday life in California. When you first enter this valley something happens, calendars fall back to a time and way of life rarely seen today. I remember one of my first visits back with my husband. He was driving on the main highway into the valley and I noticed he was going 60 mph. "Honey, you really need to slow down when you are here." People moving fast either physically or metaphorically will stand out like an urban metro-sexual at a rodeo!

You might think you would be bored living in so remote an area. That, in my experience, is so far from the truth. You know most people and they are friendly. If you fell down in the grocery store, by the time you arrived home, you would probably have 2 or 3 messages on your answering machine from concerned friends. The people are connected here, as in times past they depend on eachother for safety, purpose and friendship.

I'm so glad that my kids love to visit grandma and grandpa. It is no struggle to bring them there for a week or so each summer. See, even two children of this new millennium with every fast paced technology available to them get in the relaxed zone in this most magical valley!

It is so good just to slow down and smell the flowers. It is even better to have a place that you know is always there for you to return and relax and recharge.