delara, interrupted

I’m not generally into “recaps,” but since there was such a build-up of suspense about our Labor Day weekend, I offer a few reflections. The weekend was… amazing. Nothing short of just wonderful. Except for the part when Steve scared the shit out of me unintentionally. Ha! Otherwise it was magical and renewing.

As we left Nashville, Steve handed me a brochure for “Marchbank Weekend Getaway Consulting Services” – a subsidiary of Marchbank Enterprises and offshoot of “Marchbank Welcome Home Consulting Services.” Hilarious. And utterly fabulous! The brochure outlined (vaguely) our weekend plans—that they would be relaxing, beautiful, unplugged from civilization and work—and emphasized the reason for our weekend getaway, which was connection. Just before we left, Steve gave me a card that outlined a “1234” plan for the weekend: “one purpose, two people, three days, fo(u)r love and connection.” I loved it. He speaks my heart’s language.

So, we entered the highway (“of love”—shout out to Gwen!) and had a good laugh about whether we were going east or west. He was trying so hard to be the master of mystery. I loved it. As we headed east on I-40, finally, Steve handed me another piece of paper—a flyer for “Hour One” of our trip. It humorously pointed out that we were NOT going to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as I might have imagined. You see, a few days previously, Steve had left open on his computer a browser page for weather.com outlining the forecast for Hot Springs, Arkansas, and asked me to look something up on the internet. Har har. So, apparently that was meant to throw me off. On purpose!! Dang, this guy is good. I am not usually easily surprised. I generally figure it out—too smart for my own good sometimes. But I digress. Apparently, Lacey was in on it too and was supposed to have thrown me off even more when we chatted on the phone a couple of days before we left for our weekend away. Well-played, Steve. Well-played. Mwa haha.

Alright. So, “Hour One” pointed out that we were not going west, but it didn’t give any more info about where we WERE going. The surprise was maintained at that point. I thought, then, maybe we’re going into the Smoky Mountains? Which I’d love! I surrendered to the surprise, though. I loved it.

“Hour Two” confirmed our eastward direction, but, again, didn’t give any clues as to our final destination other than we were NOT going to Knoxville. This flyer came out of the same folder as the first one. I wondered how many more flyers were going to emerge from that mysterious folder, and what else was inside? (Insert raised eyebrow here.)

Flyers for “Hours Three, Four and Five” came and went. I knew that we were going to North Carolina, but I wasn’t sure in what town we would end up. I imagined, perhaps, we were going to Chimney Rock and the Bat Cave near Asheville, but I wasn’t sure. Again, surrendering to the surprise was more fun than knowing where we were going. I loved that. I’m realizing more and more that surrendering to life in general is more fun than anything I could plan or know myself.

We were switching between highways, and Steve suddenly slowed down. Excitedly, I asked, “Are we there?” He hesitantly replied, “Well, uh, not quite yet. In fact, I think I missed the exit. Hmph. Well, maybe if I tell you where we’re going now you can help me navigate?”

For real, I love that this man can ask for help. It makes feel giddy.

So, he gave me a “Final Destination” flyer that outlined our plans for a weekend in Lake Lure, North Carolina. BEAUTIFUL!! I was very excited when he told me where we were going AND what we were doing. Man oh man! A couple’s massage for 1.5 hours Saturday morning??!? Only to be topped by a dinner cruise on the lake at sunset. Wow. I loved it!

Yeah, this man speaks my heart’s language. Soft and clear.

So, after consulting the directions and a couple of maps, and following a long and windy route through the hills and mountains, we ended up in Lake Lure, which is really pretty even at night. Finding Steve’s aunt’s home (where we were staying) in the dark middle of nowhere was a bit of a challenge, and several times we found ourselves driving down dead-end roads. It was rather amusing. Or, I was rather amused. But we were relieved to finally locate our home away from home for the weekend, and we headed in to get a good night’s sleep.

The whole weekend was just reeeeeeeelaxing. Which is exactly what I needed it to be. We had our amazing massage Saturday morning, had a deeeeelicious lunch at La Strada right by the lake, we relaxed at the cabin in the woods during the afternoon, and then enjoyed a lovely dinner cruise at sunset. Wow. What views! Unfortunately, my UV filter needs to be replaced, so a lot of my photos were a little washed out. But in the moment we wholly enjoyed the scenery and each other. After all, the intention was love and connection. However, we did not so much enjoy our company on the cruise—“liberals don’t even fly the American flag, do they?” comments and all—except for a sweet black family that was on the cruise. As we sailed past the site where the set for Dirty Dancing was built, I thought of Charla. Did I mention that’s one of Lake Lure’s primary claims to fame? Yeah. They’re proud of it too. I loved it.

Sunday was equally relaxing. The overcast sky didn’t stop us from walking through town a bit and window shopping at all the cute little souvenir shops, especially the uber-touristy ones close to Chimney Rock. Of course, I bought some fudge. I loved it! Rocky Road. YUM! We tried on ridiculous hats and enormous belt buckles. Yikes. And although we looked high and low for a little magnet as a souvenir of our weekend getaway, we walked away empty-handed as far as that goes. (**Warning! Mush ahead!**) But our hearts were really full. Sigh… (Sorry—I couldn’t resist! Haha!) After our late lunch, we made some popcorn at the house and watched a few movies to wind down for the evening.

Our last day there, we enjoyed some time on the porch just listening to the rain and watching it hit the leaves around us. I enjoyed a lot of reading time, which rocked! And we had brunch at a sweet restaurant in town—authentic Southern cooking! YUM! I loved it.

I loved it all.

My feelings of gratitude deepen as time passes. My love grows and seems to be flourishing daily. I am continually surprised and heartened by this new adventure I have embraced—albeit reluctantly at times. (I’ll have to expand on that another time.) And I am learning SO much on so many levels.

It just goes to show you, surrendering is good for the soul. I love it.