A Sanctuary

As I was walking around Stanford this evening, I realized that there are three places in the world that I absolutely love--Paris, Stanford, and McCall, Idaho. I am incredibly grateful for the time I have spent in each place, and how I was able to grow from the experiences I had.

I am sad that for the first time since I was four years old, I will not spend any part of my summer in McCall. Summers in McCall have been one of the few things that has remained the same, more or less, my whole life. The cabin has changed, the boat has changed, even the people have changed some, but the lake remains, glistening as the sun moves across it all day long, inviting us to swim in it, read by it, kayak over it, roast marshmellows next to it.

There is no place where I can relax and feel far away from my day to day life, than when I am lying in hammock on the porch overlooking the lake with the sun filtering through the trees. There--that is my heaven, with my mom cooking in the kitchen, my dad fixing something in the house, my dog lying next to me, my siblings somewhere nearby reading a book or playing scrabble. In the evenings, the noise from the motorboats dies down and in the house you can hear the waves quietly rolling on shore, relaxing like I am, slowing down from a windy afternoon.

During those evenings, grace and thankfullness come easily. For a few brief days I can quietly reflect on my life. McCall is my sanctuary. There I am free from the things that pull for my attention and I am free to indulge in relationships, in conversations, in good books, and in setting goals to grow and challenge myself. I will miss it this year, but thankful that it be there next summer.