my favourite moment of the summer........

Spencer's Island beach. Our view in the daylight.

One night a couple of weeks ago, my family and I arrived at our Nova Scotia destination after dark. When we had left our house, it was sunny and quite hot. But, when we rolled into the driveway at the cottage where planned to stay over the Labour Day weekend, the temperature had dropped down to heavy sweater weather and the fog enclosed us like the rest of the world wasn't out there. It felt strangely comforting.

Our friends who had offered us their cottage, which sits up on a hill overlooking Spencers Island's amazing view of beach and tides and sky and water on clear blue sky days had built us a campfire by the edge of the hill and had placed four chairs around the glowing warmth. We quickly emptied our van, grabbed our sweaters and headed down to the inviting fire.

Just the four of us. In the quiet comfort of the embracing fog.



We were there that weekend to take part in a memorial service, one in which we hadn't been involved in the planning even though it was for my husband's parents.....my children's grandparents. Trepidations, uncertainty and ill feelings amongst extended family members loomed large all summer long while we silently waited for the time to arrive. We had no idea what to expect. But, on the night we arrived to the cottage on the hill with the comforting fog and the inviting campfire? It didn't matter. It really didn't matter.



An almost completed summer packed with activities, some we all participated in together and others were enjoyed by a combination of the four of us..........some all on our own...............and now it was the last weekend before school started and we had been given the gift of unwatched time to be together as a family of four.



My husband and I listened to our children choose random stories of their individual time away at summer camp..........stories we hadn't heard yet..........stories which only seep out when the rest of our busy lives are stripped away............when there are no interuptions of phone ringing, door knocking, friend calling, life hollering events...........



In peace, starring quietly into the purring fire



Stirring thoughts and newly minted memories reflectively thrown out as kindling for the conversation.



Sitting close to the campfire

Quietly

Contemplatively

Relaxing

Cozy in the silent buffer

Secure in the embrace of our low lying clouds

Utterly in the moment

Present to one another like time was eternal



I listened to my children whom I realized somewhere along the line had grown up. I felt a warm wave of blessings roll over me like the tide which brings gifts from the sea and leaves them behind on the beach. Nowhere else did I want to be than with my little family cocooned, sharing the gift of togetherness.



The fog began to lift as we continued talking quietly. We werent expecting this. Normally it would encase Spencers Island for the whole night and lift mid morning. But, it was a special night and the evening sky wanted to be a part of it. We watched the clouds begin to break away leaving layered strips across the moon.



up, up, and away it lifted



Under the moon glistened the shoreline with lapping waves we could now hear, informing us that the tide had changed

And all around the moon were a million stars......so many that it lit up the sky as they seem to collide into one another.



The stories stopped as we gazed upward and outward

I gave thanks to the unpredicted, unplanned gift of love and belonging.



All trepidations..........all uncertainly disappeared with the fog. What it was replaced with was the gift of grace. Grace from an embracing fog. We were going to be just fine.





This is my first offering for a new writing website called Writers Island. The prompt this week is "the gift." Thank you Rob for creating the site. For more gift offerings, visit here....