In a few weeks, my sister is going on a long deployment. She’s almost done with her stint in the Navy, but there’s one more long trip out to sea in her future before it’s all behind her. We’ve gotten used to last minute trips between LA and San Diego to see each other. We’ve gotten used to being in the same time zone, and used to goofy mid-day texts about funfetti cake and Friends quotes and inside jokes.
I know she’s not going away forever, but she is going away for a while. And a while is too long for me.
We needed a last hurrah before this long stretch – except not a *last* hurrah really, because we’ll hurrah again. Just a Big Hurrah. So, we planned a getaway.
We decided a few days in a cabin getaway would fit the bill, and boy did it ever.
As a family, we’ve never rented a cabin before, but twice this weekend, my dad called our cabin a “home run” and he was totally right.
It’s never a bad thing to see family, but if the gathering is at one family’s home, someone is always playing Host and someone is always playing Guest. Those little stresses can get in the way of everyone having the best time. This weekend, we all were playing Guest, and nobody felt the stress of playing Host. It was a good change of pace.
We headed to a little town in the mountains called Julian. I think their peak tourist season is mostly in the fall and the winter since they can promise apple picking and changing leaves and snow. But even in the summer off-season, we had a great time.
We did a big puzzle, and we taste tested the top two apple pie companies in town, and it rained (briefly), and we read books, and took walks to a nearby park, and saw deer, and listened to owls, and drank wine, and made meatballs, and ooooo, it was cozy.
The week before we headed down was a really rough one for me. It took a lot of intentional “shake it off” moments for me to get in the groove of relaxing and enjoying. I wish I were the kind of person who can just decide to let something go. But I’m not. Or I’m not yet.
It takes time and space for me to get my head back on straight.
We’re already talking about making this a yearly thing. I’d love to spend a week in the mountains, closer to fall. And I’d love that to not be followed by months of separation from my seester.