Friends

So there I was...sitting in my kitchen this morning with a cup of coffee in hand watching the snow fall outside the window.  I started to think of the times spent with friends at a state forest in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.  For several years in a row, every January,  several couples would meet at rented log cabins built during the 1930's in a secluded setting overlooking a frozen pond.  There was usually a fair amount of snow on the ground and the temperatures close to the single digits were not unusual.  That made sitting around the wood stove, our only source of heat, a favorite pass time.  We had four cabins in all but would meet at the only one with electricity for our meals during our Friday to Sunday adventure.  There were years when the snow was too deep to get the vehicles close to the tiny cabins and we'd have to toboggan in the provisions and wood for the weekend.  The one and only unheated porta-potty, that you had to hike to, was always a favorite topic of discussion.  Sounds like something everyone would want to experience.  But it was here that we would snowshoe to the top of a mountain where the ice crystals on the trees and the view of the valley below would leave all of us speechless.  Where laughter and camaraderie came easy and often.  Where warm delicious meals were shared after a hard days hike as we gathered around a thick pine table next to the wood stove and told of past adventures and future challenges.  Then we would all hike out to a field in the dark and look at the myriad of stars and howl at the moon if there was one.  It was here where friendships were forged and reinforced.  Kim and I missed the winter gathering this year since we've moved to NY.  We speak often of our friends and how we miss what took so long to build.  Dr. Seuss once wrote, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Thank you, my friends, that it happened with you.