Ahhh!!! Vacation … Renewal of my Soul

I hadn’t had a vacation for a year and a half. During that time period, my son was going through a divorce and all that goes along with that sad and stressful, continuous family upheaval event; I had emergency gallbladder surgery; our secretary’s job was cut from our division causing a heavier work load for all of us. Economic, Emotional, Life Events piled up on me until I was stressed to the point of exhaustion.

When I get to that state of “burnout”, there is nothing better than spending time with my family. They rejuvenate me; encourage me; give my soul a ‘rest’. That is why I returned to my “homebase” last week in Leah’s little “home on the prairie” in St. Francis.

I spent time with my oldest sister, Leah and her husband Dwight. They gave my heart and soul the needed rest I was unaware that I needed. We sat on their patio and counted the birds that lived in their neighborhood and watched their little garden grow. We drove out to 3-Corners and Devil's Gap and around "the neighborhood" where we grew up. As the week progressed, the lines in my face relaxed and I could actually see the stress flee from my inner soul.

What do people do who don’t have a ‘sister” who gives them just what they need; a listening ear; an understanding; a “renewal”??? I have decided that people who don’t have a safe haven must be those who end up in the psychiatrist’s office or the “looney bin”.

I am so thankful for my family, who give me peace and love and understanding whenever I have needed it through the years. THEY, and my belief in God, are why I am reasonably “sane” and have a peace in my soul today and am ready to return to work tomorrow.

Thank you to all my family, but especially my mother and my sister, Leah, for being the best mother and sister a “girl” could ever have.

-- Sherri Gregory