Yesterday was a lovely day for us. We drove down to Mount Vernon. We ran a few errands, did a little shopping, and met our son for lunch. Mount Vernon is a special place for us. We visited there after our son and his family moved there when he became director of the library. When we retired, we began the process of moving to Mount Vernon. Then, as we were thinking about where we would live in that town, our son and his family found a farm. They had been looking to find a place with more land for gardening, raising chickens, and living close to the land. The opportunity they found was farther north. I would mean a 45 mile commute for our son, a change of schools for the children, and a new look at where we would settle in our retirement. All of this was occurring during the pandemic when the schools were closed, masks were mandated in indoor spaces, and people were staying isolated from one another. The farm, however, seemed like the right decision for our son’s family and they decided to make the move.

Meanwhile, we rented a home in Mount Vernon and moved our belongings from Rapid City, South Dakota in our own pandemic adventure. We lived in that rental home for 13 months while we shopped and eventually purchased a home just a couple of miles from the farm. That meant that we got very familiar with the drive from Mount Vernon to the farm and back. Then we happened into a temporary position with our church, which is closer to our home and the farm than it is to Mount Vernon. The drive from Mount Vernon to Bellingham became a three day a week commute for us. Often we would come up to the farm two or three of the other days in the week. Finally we found and purchased our home here in Birch Bay and we moved up here. It was good to not be driving as much. The farm is just a couple of miles down the road and the commute to the church where we work is just a few minutes longer than the commute we had when we lived in Rapid City.

Along the way, we had grown attached to Mount Vernon. Even though we only lived there a bit over a year, we found the small town to be a very pleasant place. We learned our way around. We found places to get our hair cut, a place that repairs shoes, places to shop for groceries and other necessary items. We learned to love the walk along the Skagit River, where we could watch the birds and the changing moods of the river. And, of course, we became familiar with the library where our son works. We are very happy in our home here, but in some ways we miss Mount Vernon.

So yesterday was a fun day for us with errands to run and the special treat of having lunch with our son. One of the reasons we chose to move to this place was to have more time with our son and his family. They are a very busy family of six with four children, a farm with chickens and cows and huge gardens and an orchard. There are always activities going on at their home and chores that need to be done. Our son has his regular job, his commute, his family and the farm. He has a very busy life. So having lunch with him alone is a rare treat.

The weather was just right for a December walk along the river. A year ago the river had flooded in November and the water remained high in December. This year the water is almost as low as we have ever seen it. There were lots of things to look at and think about as we walked along.

On our way home, we took a 15-mile detour out to Fidalgo Island to Anacortes to purchase a bit of smoked salmon at a smokehouse we discovered when we were living in Mount Vernon. Smoked salmon was a very rare treat when we lived in South Dakota. It is much more readily available here. There are several places that smoke local salmon. Most of the time we purchase seafood from a small shop on the Lummi Reservation near our home, but we had already discovered this smokehouse before we found the other source, and there are some things they do that we like very much. Having a treat from the smokehouse to take home for Christmas plus a little more just to eat between now and Christmas seems like a big luxury for us.

It gets dark early here and we drove home in the dark. That isn’t a problem for us. The trip is familiar after a year of driving back and forth. We had food ready to prepare for supper so it didn’t take long after we arrived home to have a warm meal on the table.

One of the experiences of the day was dropping off a shoe for repair at the shop. The owner of the shop had started to fill out the slip on our shoe when another customer came in. She was obviously in a hurry and just needed to pick up her repaired item. She apologized for interrupting. Susan replied that it was no problem at all for us. We weren’t in a hurry. As we walked out of the shop, we talked about how nice it is to not be in a hurry. We see the hard work and busyness of a lot of people around us. We remember the days when we balanced kids and work and care of parents. And we are happy for the slightly slower pace of our lives now. We have plenty of things to do. We have deadlines and projects that we are eager to finish. But we also have time to wait for a moment when traffic is heavy, or to let someone slip in line ahead of us when we wait. There was a time when we would have added yesterday’s errands to a full day of work rather than taking a day for a leisurely adventure.

How grateful we are for the gift of a different pace of life.