We still have folks coming to take advantage of our September summer (I understand that it was warmer than July) but the stream of guests has narrowed to a trickle.

When we realized that steady Jen would be the only staff person left this month, we put out a call for reinforcements. I kept reassuring her that we would find her friends– and they came. Now they’ve gone, and on this cloudy thundering morning I’m reflecting on all they gave us this fall. My parents, Stefan, Lindsay, Andy, Mary, Anna—

First of all, they left very tangible evidence in their wake–clean tents, piles of laundered bedding and curtains, an ordered tidy canoe yard, folded sunned, dried packs and life jackets…..blueberry pies and banana bread, freshly painted floors, clean gutters, cleared trees–and I’m still finding evidence of Mary who can fold fitted sheets like I can’t.

But less tangible and maybe more significant would be the meals, with the spicy and lively conversation, the laughing, the evening Stefan told his star stories to all of us as we lay on the dock (he’s a guru), the DEEEP discussions with Anna as we were hiking, — just the overall positive infusion of energy.

My heart swells with gratitude for our constantly growing extended family, and as they leave here with cracked scrubbed hands–they also leave a little part of themselves with us. Even though we feel a tug of emptiness when they drive away, still we feel full from the echoes of their goodwill, and knowledge that sometime, they’ll be back.