Gratitude Weekly - The Cabin

My first trip to the cabin July 1975.
This weekend the children, my parents and I went to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a family reunion and 100th anniversary celebration. My father's maternal ancestors bought a large area of land in the mountains and built an orchard. This was the anniversary of that orchard's start. They had a wonderful day of sharing memories. Most of these relations are Quakers and in true Quaker form they had a scheduled program of speakers sharing their memories and history, but allowed for anyone with questions, comments or additional stories to stand and share also. I didn't get to enjoy much of the program because I spent the day climbing up and down the mountain with a 2 year old, but what I did hear I enjoyed so much.
What I really appreciated about our trip to the mountains was visiting The Cabin. The Cabin was built for my paternal grandmother's mother. My great grandmother had 4 daughters and their husbands worked together to build her a cabin on the orchard. The cabin is basically three rooms downstairs and a bathroom, with one room upstairs. On the back side of The Cabin is a large screened in porch with a newer bathroom that has been added on. It isn't huge, but it feels roomy enough and the view is spectacular. View back in 1975, has only improved through the years.
Growing up I didn't really like to go to The Cabin. I prefer my nature climatized and bug free. Stories of snakes and bears kept me close to home, but truly The Cabin is one of the great places where children can go out and play and just go back in time to safer time and place where all you really hear around you is nature. We spent one summer at The Cabin painting and cleaning the inside up really nice and ever since it has been a much better place to visit. I have only visited The Cabin once since getting married 14 years ago. When we visited this time I was greatly impressed by how well kept up everything is and how much I would like to return with my family again soon. I do believe that to fully appreciate the beauty and peace and mostly the special quality of the the area growing up is required. We had a wonderful trip and I was really impressed by all that we saw and were a part of this weekend.