Recalibrate

Labor day weekend, a time for rest and relaxation, not the official end of summer, but close enough. The start of school for many children, the beginning of fall, both the end of things and the beginning of things. For adults, it is mostly just a long weekend, an extra day away from work, and for those who choose to go away for the weekend, a chance to get away from the craziness of everyday life and reset, recalibrate, and readjust for a new season. Summer doesn’t technically end till almost the end of September, but this is the weekend when it starts to feel like autumn, the days are shorter, most of the time it is a touch cooler and if you live in a place that experiences a true autumn with the changing of the leaves from green to vibrant colors, a few trees interspersed among many have begun to change as well. And so it was with our family this past weekend, we left our everyday lives behind, headed up to Vermont to spend a weekend in the woods without technology, without interruptions, with just us and nature all around. It was our chance to recalibrate before the school year kicked into high gear and fall sports and a super busy schedule took full effect.

The beauty of this past weekend for us was that where we have property in Vermont, situated in a narrow valley, cell reception is limited or non-existent, and so we don’t even bother trying to open our phones and mostly just keep them on airplane mode. We split wood, we go for maple creamies at the local sugar house around the corner, play games, and sit around a fire and talk. When it gets dark, the kids go to bed and we stay up talking till the stars fill the sky and the coyotes howl in the distance. It is a time of peace and relaxation unlike any we truly get at home. It gives us a chance to re-connect as a family, to sit and listen to our children, converse with them, or sometimes just simply read a book. It is a non-complicated existence and is something that I feel more people should partake in, maybe not to the extreme that we do, but at least a reprieve from everyday life, technology, and everything that sucks at our attention on a daily basis. In this crazy world we need more time away, more time to re-connect and recalibrate so that we can sustain ourselves through the rest of the year. If we don’t take the time, we risk over stressing ourselves and burning the candle at both ends and burning out altogether. So I hope you took the time this past weekend to shut down, tune out, and re-start your engines for another school year, another autumn, and more craziness around every corner. I know we did, and I hope we are ready for everything that will get thrown our way.