Quiet Peace In the Country

I was down at my family's country house this weekend with my grandmom and great-aunt, which is always relaxing. We talked non-stop. I am very close to both of them and enjoy my time with the two of them. They put me--who is a very non-domestic type--through some hard manual labor, lol, washing dishes after a big dinner for an hour and hoeing and raking the family cemetery. I didn't mind at all though, as I didn't want them doing it, even though at one point I joked about "following the drinking gourd."

I brought Nicole (my best friend from college) with me--as I thought she could use the getaway, lol. I always like to share the peace and quiet that is being down there. The way the leaves rustle through the trees. The stars scattered across the night sky. The breezes and freshness of the air. The deer bounding across the field. The visits from our neighbor's dogs. The sense of being on land that my ancestors have had for generations.

She took full advantage of it by reading, writing, or painting outside on the porch or on a blanket under our plum tree. I know she just went through a bad breakup recently and hope that she found some healing solace in it all. Everything's so familiar and comforting for me there, that I'm glad that she got to feel like that too.