So, it’s 2020……not much more to say, right?

I have been feeling exhausted, drudgy, mundane, and disconnected ever since the weather has started to turn cold.  This past weekend we were supposed to get in our last camping trip, just hubby and me.  We usually take an October get away for our anniversary. But this year’s trip like many other things, got up ended by COVID-19 and the weather.  I was ready to resign, cancel all our plans, and just stay home, again.  But hubby didn’t want to do that, he wanted to not let anything put a stop to our anniversary tradition.  So, we tried to figure out something to do or some place to go.  Finally, hubby said let’s go back to where it all started….DULUTH!!!  The place where we started our marriage.  We took all the COVID-19 and extra precautions.  I am so happy that we were able to spend the weekend there.

We drove up Highway 61, hiked and played around at Split Rock Lighthouse, bought some smoked fish at Lou’s in Two Harbors, saw freighters anchored off shore, climbed rocks, sat in the sunshine listening to the waves crash up against the shore line, saw the sand dunes, shopped Canal Park, went across the Lift Bridge, road the North Shore Scenic Railway, visited the Great Lakes Aquarium, ate dinner at Grandma’s, took in the views at Enger Tower, and visited our first home.  It was a busy weekend.

I felt replenished driving home the long way through the Northwest Wisconsin woods.  A place where cell service is spotty, and the trees vastly outnumber the people.  We had taken a trip back to a place where we lived 27 years ago when we were first married.  When our biggest worries were how to spend time together with our crazy schedules, when the next time would be when we could go home together, and how we were going to get all the thank you cards done from our wedding.  It was a time where I could drive just a little way, sit on a big rock, and listen to the waves crash upon the shore.  The place where I would feel replenished.

During this turbulent time, I encourage everyone who is feeling drained right now, to take a moment, an hour, a day or a weekend to go back to a time, either mentally or physically, where something made you feel replenished.  Take the time to remember that moment or place, write about it, picture it, draw it or whatever else will remind you and then when you feel drained go back or look at it and remember and replenish.

Jeremiah 31:25 “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”