The Summer of Love...

I am sitting here on the shore of Lake Tahoe and I know I am living an incredible life.  This summer has been the season of dreams come true and I am more grateful than I could ever sufficiently express in words.

In the past few months I have reconnected with old friends and made new ones.  I have watched my children find magic in every new experience they came in contact with.  I have spent time with family I don’t often get to see.  I have seen Mother Nature in her most glorious and breathed and swam and dreamt in Her midst.

Early in the summer my friend, Michel, sent me a horoscope.  It said that in the middle of August I would experience romance and love in a very powerful way.  Not knowing what sort of love would ensue, I looked forward to what was to be.  Sitting here on the beach waiting for my sons and my nephew to return from a fishing expedition with our new friend John, I now realize the meaning of the zodiac message.

I am in love with my children in a way I never knew I could love.  I am mystified by their courage, creativity, curiosity, love and sense of adventure.  I love their ability to adapt and how they embrace any and all opportunity for new experiences.  When I pray, they are and will forever be my first and last thank you.

I love my siblings and their families.  This summer I have had the opportunity to spend time with each of my four siblings who I adore. 

My sister, Courtney has lived with us for the past year and I am so grateful for the time to know and love and understand her on a day-to-day basis.  She is the most capable and competent human being I know.  As she begins her new journey I look forward to accompanying her if only from afar. 

I was able to spend a brief amount of time with my brother Brad and his family.  I don’t get enough time with them, and I am grateful for every minute. 

My brother Bruce and his family took an RV trip from Denver to San Francisco.  It is a trip he has dreamt of for years and as I listened to their adventures, I know that he too had many dreams come true in the past few months. 

One wish I have had for years was for Bruce, his wife Heather and their four amazing children and my family to spend time with my sister Kelli and her family in Kelli’s in-laws vineyard, Stone Tree, in Sonoma.  I had no idea how this would ever come to fruition, but my brother cut his trip short by a day or two and we were able to share three glorious days together with Kelli’s mother and father-in-law, drinking wine, exploring their cave, visiting lavender fields, and creating mutual forever memories…   I can’t begin to express my appreciation to Bruce and his family for this opportunity.  

My sister Kelli left for the West Coast right after college graduation.  For a while I believed she would return to our East Coast roots, but as her life grew and developed into the beautiful existence it is now, I knew we would never again be geographically close.  She and her husband, Charlie, their son Matthew and daughter Ashley spend time hiking, skiing, harvesting grapes and fishing in the midst of magnificent beauty.  I love her dearly and I love that she has created such a glorious life for herself. 

I love the fact that I had the opportunity to include her son Matthew in our stay in Tahoe.  It is one thing to share holidays, another to spend time with all family members together, but being able to spend a week with a child alone gives you a much different, deeper and more real idea on who they are. 

This summer in Tahoe, I fell in love with my nephew Matthew on a whole different level.  He is a remarkable, intelligent, beautiful, life embracing, adaptable, passionate young man who has the sensitivity of a much older soul.  I have watched him jump off cliffs that terrified him, fit in with four overbearing cousins, show grace toward his younger cousin, and find the same magic we all did in all our adventures. 

Matthew is a fisherman.  He has surreal patience and listens to the Universe around him like a fisherman must.  He wakes up early and embraces every opportunity he can to pursue his love.  Matthew, you have taught me many lessons this summer.  Thank you.  I love you.

As I write this I am reminded of how I have been intrigued by the concept of two worlds colliding or meeting.  Shorelines where water and land meet, fog settling on the lake, etc.  As I sit here on the beach looking across the most enchanting body of water I have ever experienced with the tiny waves lapping at my feet and the fog in the distance, I am reminded of the line… “On Earth as it is in Heaven”.  I am in love with Tahoe. I am in love with the water, the mountains, the stars at night, the people, the charm and the peace I find here.  Years ago I visited this place and I can remember saying, I can’t wait to bring my children here to experience this grandeur.  Here we are and not one detail has escaped the young eyes accompanying me.  Yet another dream come true.

So, as this summer of love, of fulfilled dreams, of magic, of lessons learned and lessons yet to learn winds down, it comes to me like an epiphany what my horoscope meant.  I would fall in love with my life in a new and even more profound way and for this my gratitude is measureless.  What more magnificent gift is there?  Perhaps only my wish and dream that many others were able to do the same….

When you come to the crossroad, may you always choose love.

xoxoxox