04/25/2024
In February 2023 Ms Rachel and I took a month long sabbatical to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We rented a small one bedroom cabin on top of a hill overlooking the valley, and spent most of our time enjoying the peace and quiet. Mountain air, peace and quiet and a pretty girl can change your world.
During the final week of February, most of our children and grandchildren joined us for the last six days we reserved a large six bedroom cabin to share with our family, and it was quite an adventure. Those moments when all of our family is together is a rare treat indeed and as we grow older, it happens all too seldom. But when it does happen, it is a little slice of heaven.
We cooked breakfast together every morning, explored Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge during the day and finished the night with a family meal.
As we were raising our family in the 1990s and the 2000s, we spent many days in those beautiful mountains on vacation together. Those are the memories that I treasure most in my life; listening to my kids laugh and play, staying up too late and eating too much food and just being together.
Nothing in all of creation is like family and I am grateful for every moment that we’ve shared in those sacred Hills.
