Day 284 Goodbye to Cooks Brook Beach

Dear friends,

There is no "TGIF" here on Cape Cod. It has been a beautiful week, in being outdoors, in being by the sea, and as always most of all, in relationships. There is a time for everything under heaven, and the time comes for the rest to end and the work to begin again. I love going away, and I love going home. No doubt I won't be singing "Here Comes the Sun" when it's time to do the laundry at home or clean the bathroom. But such are the rhythms of life. These are the natural undulations of the pilgrim road.

To my new friends Cindy and Bill, there are no words to adequately express the gratitude we have for the gift of a week in their warm, family friendly home. And thank you to Lynnie for suggesting the whole idea in the first place. I sure hope those New Jersey folks can make it to the Dessert Night on October 23. They are a part of all of you who have carved your initials in the tree of love and care in our lives. Stephen will always remember this as the place he "started to stop" using the cane. And the nights out on the deck under the moon and stars, hearing the kids playing Banana Grams upstairs will be fixed in my memory forever.

To the Great One, who always gives us much more that we ever deserve, I say "You are the Father of Fathers." To Him, who gave me hope in my heart in the cold, grim days of November that we would all once again stand on the magnificent shore of the mighty Atlantic, I give my all, as small as it is.

And to all of you, family and friends, who cheered us on and carried us at times so we could make it this far, I hope you know by now how much we Smitties love you. I hope our imperfect, faulty, messy road will remind you that God is an ever present help in any trouble. Your big ones and your little ones. I never want this experience to come across as having been a neat little package with a snappy ending. You know me better than that. And if you are breathing, you know life doesn't work that way. We walk with the Great One in a fallen world, as fallen people, and we hang on to His grace in all of it. There is no formula.

Going home tomorrow, but this particular year will stay with me for a bit. Miss my Joseph, and our kitties too. As Dorothy so aptly says it "there's no place like home".

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann

Some pix of Mark, Judy and the kids. I love the 9pm cereal munch between games. Also, the sunset swim by the four kids was outstanding.