Photos of the Last “Week”

The whole spectrum of feelings during a unique vacation time

As I shared the last time I did this, “week” is a loosely defined term around here.  In this case, it is photos of my time away over the last few weeks.  My family and I traveled to a wonderfully named lake in Canada called Lake Memphremagog where one of our family members has a cabin.  It is a place the family has been going for many decades now and this was the first time all of us were able to get up there together.  There will be a few other posts in the coming week or so related to the trip but here are some glimpses of our time.  One of the key things for me about the experience of this trip is that, more than any other vacation we’ve taken, this trip had change after change after change.  There were things we planned months ago that needed to be changed along the way.  Weather and forest fire smoke affected our trip. An airline cancelation messed up another part.

One change in particular really frustrated me because it was one part of our trip that I was sooooo looking forward to.  But our son’s flight got messed up and that caused us to have to cancel those plans and, honestly, I was really sad about it.  My drive to Montreal to pick him up was a rough one - there was a lot of silence, a few dictated “I am not in a talking mood” texts to a few people, and a lot of letting go of that small loss.  But the delay in the flight and the changes that resulted ended up opening the door to some wonderful new experiences and moments.  This isn’t a “always look on the bright side” type of thing but instead a reminder that losses (big and small) happen and we need to take time to grieve those losses so we are able to live into what was next.  That 2+ hour drive to Montreal was a necessary time for me and I am grateful for all of it (especially that our son finally arrived and was able to join us for the remainder of our time!)  If it wasn’t for that major change, I would not have had this moment with my kids on the lake at sunset a few days later.

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So other moments...as always, nature spoke in deep ways - early mornings, beautiful water, grey days, smoky vistas, intricate details, and one perfect sunset evening.

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Scout also had her moments as she got to travel internationally for the fur-st time!

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There were also two times of experiencing the wonder and mystery of the historical Christian faith - time in Montreal at the Basilique Notre-Dame De Montreal and then a few days later visiting the Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-lac and touring that sacred space.  Both spaces, in their unique ways, spoke of the wonder and mystery of faith, of the reverence we owe our creator, and the ways in which we humans create spaces to help draw us into the holy.

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And finally, our last full day had a great side trip to Vermont to have a very sweet time as we toured the Ben and Jerry’s Factory.  The reason that I am standing next to the blueberry tombstone in the Flavor Graveyard is a story for a different time, but suffice to say, I learned an important blueberry lesson...

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I would be remiss if I didn’t share one other part of the trip.  On our way there, we were able to stop to see a dear friend who is in her final months of life after battling cancer for the last decade or so.  She is a woman who’s taking a chance on hiring me nearly 30 years ago has had incredible ripple effects in my life and her relationships with others has had similar ripples in their lives.  I was grateful to spend a good bit of time with her but it was also deeply bittersweet because I know that will likely have been the last time I see her this side of eternity.  It was a holy and beautiful space as we shared blessings from John O’Donohue and I photographed her and her husband’s hands.  It was a gift to be able to see her and was an incredible bit of coincidental / divine timing that we just happened to be driving that way at this exact time.

So, with the joy, the beauty, the laughter, the grief, the sadness, the moments, the ice cream, and so much more...I am grateful.