The Last Days of My Summer

My last week at the lake was the first week of August.  I scrambled to get some last minute work done on the estate records and to get the sale of Doug's house set up.  But the good part was that I had good friends and family with me for most of the week. 

My sister, Judy, arrived Tuesday and pitched in to help me get things put away & finished up; then on Wednesday, my good friend Lynne who lives in D.C. but is originally from Aitkin, and Damon, Sarah & Heath arrived.  Damon hadn't been to the lake during the summer since he started working for Union Pacific - his work schedule hasn't allowed it.  He was impressed with the improvements he hadn't seen and in fact, he likes the Clubhouse so much when I called to let them know breakfast was ready  he answered  - "Damon's Cabin"

We had a wonderful few days - Heath went out in the kayak for the first time; Damon made his pilgrimage to Reed's in Walker & we had lunch at Chase on the Lake; Heath met Paul Bunyan; and we played games, laughed & appreciated being together at such a wonderful spot! These photos are worth a million words!

I said goodbye to my last guests on Friday and had Saturday to finish packing, shipping some last things to NV, putting things away and saying my goodbye to my summer.  Ann is going to be the guardian of several large files of records that must be kept for six months after we close the estate. On Sunday I had my last morning fire, burned some non-essential estate papers just for the cathartic effect, finished up some laundry and said goodbye to Ann before I hit the road.

I ran into traffic problems - again - and missed my flight so went to Judy's, where I leave the car, to see if I could make other arrangements.  I was able to get on an evening flight and thanks to Mel, who scooped me up for a fast trip to the airport, I didn't have to pay a fortune to make the change.  But alas, my travel trials were not over.  The new flight was delayed an hour leaving Mpls due to mechanical problems and then we circled Denver for another hour because of storms.  I called Christine, my airport shuttle driver, and told her to just take my car to her house & I would pick it up there.  I finally arrived in LV about 1 a.m. - exhausted and sad that I had missed seeing the desert horizon, which always takes my breath away because it is so different from The Point. 

As I look back, I think summer couldn't have been better.  I had to reconnect with the place that began as a shared dream for the future, soak up the spirit of the place, and replay the memories of so many good times there.  It was good that I had so many people who matter in my life to be with me as I went through an important part of my grieving and growing and finding new direction. Thanks to all who came to be with me this summer; thanks especially to Ann, my long-time friend for sharing her exuberance for life, listening to me talk through all the things I needed to figure out and reminding me that I will be OK - no matter what!  Goodnight, moon!  Goodbye to the Point!