Outer Banks

We’re here, and I can’t escape the overwhelming feeling of having come home. It’s as if it belongs to me, and my heart swells with gratitude for the chance to experience the beauty and meaning of it once again. It will hold even greater significance now, as our last-born takes for himself his bride in this enchanting place later today.

There’s a piece of me here, part of my heritage. Thanks to my parents who loved it and wanted us to know and love it too, I grew up coming here. It was truly an escape at times, from the hectic pace of the very busy and stressed life my parents led. But because of health issues, my dad would often need the relief that the ocean breezes and salt air could provide. So, Mom would get us up in the middle of the night, throw us with blankets and pillows into the station wagon, and off we would go. Just as we crossed the bridge onto the narrow strip of barrier isle, we’d roll the windows down and breathe in the salty air. For Daddy, he would immediately be able to breathe freely, maybe for the first time in weeks, and the awful and sometimes debilitating headaches would begin to subside.

That sense of release and relief is the very feeling I get now when I come. I can see the power of God in the strength of the ocean swells. I hear the sound of gulls and feel the warmth of the sun, even on a chilly day. I enjoy the serenity of the sound as the sun sets on it, casting that fire-red glow across the glassy surface. There is both calm and storm, but peace none-the-less, and I think, is there any other place like it on the face of the earth?

I know others have their places too, at least I hope they do. But for now, this is mine. And I am so grateful. God is so good and forever faithful. Today, my husband of 29 years and I will start over. This day will be another anniversary. We have come full circle. Once again it will be just the two of us, and God has bestowed a bountiful harvest on us that continues to grow. It has been my dream since my late teens to raise a family. And now I have the wonderful joy of seeing that family blossom, each son now with a family of their own, Seth's beginning today.

And it begins here, at my beloved Outer Banks.