Our Treehouse is quiet today, so quiet I can hear the soft hum of the refrigerator as I write this. Especially quiet I think because since this past Friday till yesterday it has been filled with incredible vibes from some very special people, my church community, Louisville Center for Spiritual Living. My heart is overflowing with love and gratitude. Part of me is at a loss for what to write, which surprises me, as I love to write. But so may wonderful memories, smiles and laughter, and good times with such dear friends. I think of that old poem, a love sonnet, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How Do I love thee? Let me count the ways…”. And that’s it! Now I can write!

1. Meeting several friends for the first time in person, live, after several years of WiFi zooming with each other and talking about our love for God and sharing about our own lives and how to grow with God. It was like a reunion of like-minded souls who had not yet met in person but yet it FELT like we had.

2.Meeting up at two local restaurants in Louisville, Friday and Saturday evenings, and dancing by the river afterwards on Saturday night. So fun! And on Saturday afternoon a beautiful circle of women met in Our Treehouse and the men gathered in another home, both a time to share and get to know one another even better.

3.Morning meditations on the outdoor deck of Our Treehouse, with Vi, George, Katrina and Tammy, the prayer gong gently swaying with the wind, and the birds adding their own joyful songs. Tammie and Harry were able to join us with this special time on Monday morning.

4.Hawaiian theme party at Our Treehouse Sunday afternoon, which meant meeting more people whom I had previously only seen on virtual zoom. Five states were represented, as you can see in the picture above; Texas, Idaho, Colorado, Ohio, and Kentucky. And so much food, accompanied by lots of stories and conversation and once again getting to know each other even better. Rev. Vicky kicked it all off with a beautiful blessing before dinner.(Six or seven people had already left the party before this picture was taken. But they were still in our hearts, as were those of our community that could not attend in person.)

5.Sitting outside on the patio late Sunday evening, sharing our thoughts and feelings on our own “delightful moments” for the past three days. Our time together had provided a resounding “yes” in response to Rev. Rick’s question just that morning at Sunday service, “Is your heart full?”.

6.Gifts were given to all of us from Our Treehouse, Grandmother Tree, Reddogg, Pan the Cat, Prudie the Hummingbird, and the endless sunflowers.

7.Relaxing in an outdoor pool Monday afternoon, simply lovely.

8.All through the week end my own “Ghost Busters”, Katrina and Tammy, and my Clorox wipes buddies, Vi and George, vacuumed and cleaned up Our Treehouse, helping me feel that I, too, was on vacation. Plus so many helped with all the needs at the party Sunday, like Vernon helping me with cars parking in my driveway and my neighbor’s driveway, and boy was it hot out there! And Steve helped serve the Root Beer floats in his bare feet because his old beach sandals fell apart. I’m still finding bits and pieces on my driveway and inside Our Treehouse, and it just cracks me up every time I bend over and pick up one more piece of those old shoes! :O) And so many hands reached out to clean up after the party.

I like to think we all created our own love sonnet for one another this past week end, in so many ways. Thanks to Katrina there are a few hundred photos to look at all the memories. And thanks to our full hearts we can pull up so many wonderful images and feel so very loved. All because those of us that could, took the time to gather. My cup runneth over.

c   Love, Joan