Moonrise Retreat - Last day and wrap up

It is always sad to have to leave a vacation spot.  But this time was really hard for me.  I am starting to feel the nostalgia that an aging person who has had a good life starts to feel.  It was a week of sweet memories mixed with the joy of knowing I was making new ones with Jav and the boys.  It was happiness that I could have some family surrounding us, if even for a few hours.  But also sadness that we are missing several folks from that family who have passed to the next plane.

My week was filled with little details that stick with me so strongly from being a kid - the taste of Aunt Lou's homemade bread; listening to Uncle Robert's slight German accent as he told a great story interrupted by his chuckles; my grandparents and Aunt Lou and Uncle Robert erupting into such laughter remembering those funny stories that they had tears running down their faces.  How I miss them and the feeling of being safe and loved when we were all together!

But there were moments on the trip that were so very much like ones I had in my childhood that I knew I had given all of us a great gift by choosing Fredericksburg:  Crossing over the creek in the middle of Lady Bird Park and dipping our hands in the small rushing waterfalls; watching the boys romp around the farm, feed the animals and ride Beau the retired racehorse just like when my brother and I helped out and rode their old horse Stonewall on my cousin's first farm all those years ago; walking up and down Main Street where the shops may be different but the feel of it is exactly the same at every stage of my life; arriving at the top of Enchanted Rock and breathing in the beautiful views on all sides, and watching sunrises and sunsets on the top of a hill in the Hill Country, one of the most gorgeous sites on Earth.

Also, to relive the joy of our wedding day with the boys was a very special thing to be able to do.  They were infatuated by the story of the magical kitty who showed up just in time for wedding pictures who we are ALL convinced was my grandmother reincarnating herself to attend the wedding.  Hopefully they can imagine, at least a little, what it was like to be there.

We were so lucky with the weather, also, not being hot as an inferno for most of the trip.  We had some wonderful meals out and some fun times eating in.  We spent much time together seeing sights in town, having some great board game competitions and gazing up at that beautiful star-filled sky.  We spent one lovely evening reminiscing with family and having the older generations meet our two boys.  My cousin and her husband took time to get to know Gabriel and Joel, something I had not anticipated and was so very happy to have happen.  We hiked and walked and slept well and breathed in the cleaner air, and appreciated getting away from noise and bustle and routine.

My cousin's home, built in the late 1800's.

This could be my brother romping
around on dirt piles at my cousin's first
farm back in the late 70's.

One last sit on the porch to enjoy the view before heading home.

I hope the boys never forget this trip.  I may not have been born here, but I've spent so much of my life here that I truly feel like it is home.   I have other ethnicities in me, but I do not feel them like I do German.  I look across the hills and can imagine what my great great great grandparents saw in this place when they arrived from Germany and decided to settle down.  That is a powerful connection that I hope the boys will now continue.

Some vacation in the future we now need to take them to Mexico to get the same feelings from their dad's side.