As this winter stretches on and on, retaining sanity is becoming a full time occupation. To maintain it, I follow my doctor’s advice when he’s performing unpleasant medical procedures. “Jolene,” he says, “go to your happy place.”
Tell you what, the road to my happy place is getting worn out this winter, at least metaphorically. See, my happy place is the little clearing on our neighbor’s property, surrounded by huge evergreens, but it’s inaccessible these days because of two feet fof snow on the ground.
With our driveway iced over and the picnic table swallowed by snow, it’s hard to imagine Labor Day weekend, warm and sunny, when thirty of my closest relatives (I come from a big family) gathered at our house for a reunion. Tents filled the yard, sleeping bags covered every bedroom floor, the bathrooms were in constant use. In the deep of this winter, it’s hard to remember walking through the grass and assembling in the shady glen of my happy place where my friend Twyla Wisecup, owner of Impressions by Twyla, photographed our motley crew.
Patiently she arranged group after group: Mom and her sister and husband, my generation’s offspring – first the girl cousins, then the boy cousins, then all together – family groups, including the first picture with all four Philos in street dress since 2001. Most amazingly of all, Twyla corralled the bunch (and some of us are pretty independent cusses) into a cohesive whole and preserved us forever in a few formal shots, then several where we snuggled close, and finally letting us do what we like to do best at the end of every reunion – display our true personalities.
Every time I see that picture, I am in my happy place again, surrounded by a big family, comprised of people who love each other at their best, their worst and their goofiest. When we gathered for the photo, we had no idea this would be the hardest, longest winter in recent memory, with snowdrifts so high it’s impossible to reach my happy place on foot.
But thanks to our Labor Day gathering and Twyla’s talents, I can get there any time I want without a snow shovel or fear of wearing out the road. What a blessing the picture has been this winter.
Thanks, family and thanks, Twyla, for preserving my sanity and my happy place.
