Yesterday, I returned to the lake I spent ALL of my formative years to visit a dear friend at her family cottage. 

As a teenager, I remember hanging on out someone's dock...looking around at my cottage friends, wondering what we would look like and be like when we grew up.   My dear friend and I have weathered major milestones together....often turning to each other as a touchstone, gathering the strength we needed to face whatever particular challenge life threw our way.    In our teens/ young 20's......a milestone in life   (ohmygod why hasn't he called me?) was met with  "let's go for a drag behind a boat"  or "let's go skinny dipping", or "let's go jump beaver dams in the tinner!".....or meeting mid week for mini put.......really important coping mechanisms!  I sure wish she lived closer so we could do more of that....

Her family is NOTORIOUS for projects.  ANY project....and they're usually so interesting that it doesn't take long before you've been voluntold right into it.  Participation is easy too, becuase if you want to do it RIGHT, they most likely have list of precise instructions that ensure success.   Yesterday, my friend and I were charged with making Wood Chips to aroma-ize the beer can chicken her husband was making......I had no idea how much we needed, but my friend and I had a fabulous time in the garage with the hatchet and a hunk of pine.......We ended up chopping much more than we needed but we definitely honed our skill at chip making......and both gained a great deal of respect for wood carvers who let the wood speak to them about what needs to come out.........I think all our wood said was "ladies!  Please!  just chill!  OUCH!".   I'm sure we had enough left overs to wood chip around some trees.....

  It was a really nice moment..... a rainy day cottage project with my childhood friend, feeling like a kid again.... going back inside the cottage to the warmth of her family, who, over the years. have come to feel like my own.