Here and Now

Last night Roy and I went for our usual golfcart ride. The sun was just beginning to go down as we set out and by the time we got home...total darkness. But it was so much fun riding up the hill and talking to so many sweet people who live along the way...Stella and Gary and Jason and Kevin...

Ok--Kevin doesn't live along the way but we did bump into him and chat for a minute.

Earlier I went for a walk down Holcome Cove Road, just Piper and me. My phone was almost dead so I didn't have music to entertain me. Just me and my thoughts. But after sitting all day--as I do way too much of that with this job of mine--it felt good to get out and move.

As I was coming around the corner, just getting back on campus, I ran into Mike and Kim Stollenmeier walking down the big hill by the boys' dorm. And so, I waited for them to catch up and we walked back together.

My word--we are surrounded by such good people. People with good hearts and kind spirits and people that give just for the sake of giving.

Once we were all settled in for the night, Jace came into the living room and said, "Mom, I can't wait for Academy. I was talking to Jacob tonight and everything he said just sounded so fun."

Jacob, of course, is a friend who lives up the hill who started academy life this fall. Jace adores him. (All kids adore him, I do believe.) And they have been hanging out together in the evenings some and running their remote control cars together.

Anyway, when we originally ran into Jason on our little golfcart ride, he and Roy started talking about very boring things that I had no desire to hear...guy stuff like airplanes and such...and I happened to see Gary stroll across his yard. And so I hopped off and walked over to ask how his year is faring. Since Gary taught at academy before, just like me, we began to discuss teaching and why teachers love to teach...that sort of thing. And then Stella came over and joined the conversation.

That's scary ground for me--talking about teaching. Sometimes I fear I will miss it, that I will wake up one day and yearn for the classroom. It's all I have known for literally my entire life. I grew up in a public school setting (and both of my parents were in education so I heard the lingo all of the time) but by the time I was a freshman in high school, I'd switched over (with my mom) to an Adventist system and I've been there ever since.

But I must say, I feel so free. I have no stress in my life. I can't remember--honestly can't remember--ever feeling like this before. Even in the summertime, when the bounty of sunshine and swimming pools and flower gardens is right outside my window, there is a knowing that it's just a short reprieve. But now? I go to work, time flies by like none other as I have a list to do a mile long, and then I come home to my life. And I rarely experience stress--not like the stress of teaching, anyway.

It's so weird.

Honestly, I don't even think it's sunk in yet.

But last night as we were talking to all of these people over the span of an hour or so, and then as I was talking to Jace about the beauty of academy life, I couldn't help but feel so thankful for where we live, for my job, for Roy's job, for the friends who surround us. I feel so grateful that Jace has a little haven to grow up in where he can run a remote control car or ride a dirt bike or have the space to practice soccer. That he has so much to look forward to once he hits his high school years. That he will be guided by dedicated teachers who will encourage and provide direction when it's needed.

And? I am thankful that if I ever have that burning desire to chat with teens, well...they are virtually right outside my doorstep.

The best of both worlds.

I have no idea where my future will take me. Who does? But for now, for today, I am grateful that my here and now is living in a white house on a hill nestled in the mountains in the outskirts of Asheville, North Carolina.

It's a good place to be.