Serenity Mountain

Good morning Serenity Mountain. I just had the best few hours of sleep, curled up in my favorite recliner at the Casey’s retirement home right smack dab in the middle of the Great Smokey Mountains! I love coming here on vacation—even if I’m never still when I’m here. Just being here sheds an entirely different light on my life. We are miles and miles from the parkway in Pigeon Forge, so everything appears to run in slow motion, like a nice gentle brook over the smooth rocks that form a small creek. I am surrounded by God’s wonderful nature and I feel peaceful and more relaxed.

Last night when we got here it was 9:30 and true dark had settled over the mountains. We were so happy to finally be at our destination. All I could think about was jumping in the Jacuzzi and relax. Several days before our trip, I strained a muscle in my left calf, so my leg was giving me fits and the muscles were all tensed up, sending little pinpricks of electricity down my leg. My left foot was numb and I was having trouble getting comfortable. When we pulled into Serenity Mountain, my body shouted halleluiah and bring on the warm bath and ibuprofen.

Hubby backs the truck up to the basement door and we crawled out of the cab to stretch and take our first look around. Alyce forgot to have the housekeeper turn on the light for us, but that was okay because we have become familiar with the place. Darling Daughter called dibs on the bathroom and she scamper up to the second floor bedroom where she will spend the next three days. Hubby and I started to unload the truck. We had just turned all the lights on downstairs and Hubby had turned on the “big blue bladder”— an extra water tank so we will have plenty of water for the trip—when I turned around and a baby squirrel ran into the house and straight into the first bedroom. The blue room is one of two bedrooms on the basement level of the house, along with the pool room and the remainder of the garage.

Hubby ran into the blue bedroom and clapped his hands; the noise startled the squirrel and he ran into the pool room and inside the fireplace. The squirrel had hit a dead-end and was trying to claw its way into the wall. I could just see it now, "Crazy Family Visit Cabin — Let Squirrel Tear Up House. Hubby clapped his hands again and the squirrel ran out and headed back to the blue bedroom. Clap-clap—the squirrel is headed for me at the door, but it becomes confused and runs into the corner formed by the open door and the wall. As Hubby closed in on the little critter, the squirrel high tailed it into the green bedroom. Clap-clap—the squirrel is herded into the pool room. Clap-clap—with much encouragement from me waving a pillow — I picked this up off the couch to protect myself with — in the right direction and Hubby right behind the squirrel clapping his hands, the squirrel finally ran out the opened door into the night.

We both started laughing. I had already worked up a sweat and we haven’t been here ten minutes yet. I sure hope this is not an indication of what’s to come for the rest of our trip. After snacks we were ready to relax. Hubby was trying to get the internet hooked up on my laptop so Dear Daughter can talk to her friends again. Dear Daughter was plopped down in her favorite chair reading a book and I was sitting in my favorite recliner applying a hot pack to my aching left calf muscle. To bed, to bed — tomorrow is another day.

The next morning, I woke up at 7, just like clock work. The sun was just rising because I can see daylight above the tree tops. As I’m stretching and taking in the wonderment of my natural surroundings, a squirrel jumps down on the deck railing and proceeds to make its way all the way around the deck railing. Wonder if he is a parent to the little guy we played hide-and-seek with last night? As luck would have it, by the time I grabbed the camera and got to the window to snap a great shot, the squirrel took the leap of death off the deck railing. This little bundle of fur had leaped from the railing to a tree branch just below the railing; he then scampered up the tree.

I hear other wildlife out in the woods, but I don’t see anything other than the wild turkey that are plentiful on this mountaintop. I’m hoping I’ll get to see some deer this trip. We always see the flock of wild turkey that crosses the driveway on there way into the woods, but I’ve not seen any deer—or maybe a bear. Yeah, seeing a bear would be great—just as long as he stays down on the ground and I’m up on the deck.

It’s almost 9 in the morning — I need to get started with my day. I slept very well last night. I’m feeling refreshed and energetic; I want more and more of these feelings. So, in order to capture more days like yesterday, I need to plan for it now. I need to be laying the foundation to hold the enormous undertaking that has befallen me. You are nothing if your foundation is not stable.

Hubby and I have been in our home for 15 years now. We haven’t done very much to improve our home, but that is about to change. I need to center the focus of my life for the next year to building a stronger foundation. Once I have my foundation firm and strong, then I can concentrate my efforts on building the type of life I want.

So far, I’ve not been a very good leader, but that is about to change. Starting today, I am going to approach my life from a different angle. Instead of doing things like I’ve always done them. I’m going to change the style and mix things up a bit. I need a clutch—helper—in my life. That will be my survival kit, my soul and the beginnings of the next generation. I want to teach my grandchildren all the skills I wish I had learned earlier. I wish I had more formalized teaching in my life at an earlier age—my life would have turned out so much different than it is now.

Martha Stewart — I want to be a Martha Stewart-in-training. I want to be able to cook and clean in addition to bringing home the bacon and working in the yard. I need to think of our yard like a farm. It needs to be divided into several different areas. I need an area to grow staples needed in making other things.

Get closer to God. Relearn your life over. Learn to do things simpler. Learn to do things like my grandparents did. Make a difference in my immediate families life and then, spread the feeling out to your co-workers and friends. This will ooze out into every aspect of your life.

Make my life more compacted. How small can I shrink my life until the main tasks of my life are stored within one little capsule of hope. One little treasure I keep the hoppe burning bright all stored into a beautiful costainer with extrodianry wrappings. That’s why I’m so razy about wrapping papper—I think it needs to be special and something that is worked for. I want the recipient to know that this gift is coming from me and it’s coming from my heart.

It doesn’t take material objects to make my life run smoother — all of today’s modern conveniencences are just that conveniences—there is nothing cheap or untruthful. I just need to be more organized so I will stay on task. Hopefully this will make my life run so much smoother.

I need to carve out traditions in the hardwood of my life. I need to make an impression. I want to be recognized and compensated for my time and effort, but I want it to be in a realistic way. No lies, jut the truth and the soul. My family really is were its all about.

I want the life in me to be so strong it reflects on the people in my life. Serenity Mountain helps me take stock of my life and realize that all I have ever needed is right outside my back door. I don’t need modern conveniences to make me happy or help me feel closer to God. God lives in nature, not a golden castle; Serenity Mountain helps me but my life back into prospective.

© Bobbi Rightmyer