As good as the very first cup…

Writing to you from the beautiful Mc Cart Mountain Manor in Jim Thorpe, PA. There is just something about this place that makes everything right in the world. Maybe it’s the “gorge”ous views of the Lehigh Valley driving in, maybe it’s the smell of the natural pines that keep you secluded from the rest of the world, or maybe it’s the nostalgia that exists in and around these walls. Everywhere I turn, there are so many memories filled with friendship, laughter, and love in this place that my heart is filled with happiness. The craziest part of it all is recognizing how much has changed yet has also stayed the same.

As we sat enjoying a glass of red wine and planning out our weekend, Tiffany and I looked back on some old pictures (thanks myspace!). I can’t believe this house has been around for over a decade. It seems like just yesterday we were a bunch of crazy kids escaping reality for what was our first of many long weekends of shenanigans in the mountain house. We were all so full of life and ready to take on whatever the world would throw at us. That first year was one of my absolute favorites.

The house greeted us with smells of fresh paint, shiny surfaces, clean carpets, and a vast openness perfect for a bunch of young twenty-somethings to dance it out, build human pyramids, and play beer pong into the wee hours of the am. We were barely starting out in this world, but most of our group had been in each other’s lives for well over a decade and change (some even longer). It’s not often you find a group of childhood friends that you create life-long bonds with. We never recognized just how young and naïve we were back then. I’d like to think it was a combination of friendship, faith, and fearlessness that brought us together. The same combination that has helped get us to this day. Man, did life throw us some challenges.

I look at this house this morning, aged and weathered. Just like us. It’s not the same as it once was, but it’s the same as it will always be. It’s a comforting reminder that as time passes and things change, some things will always remain. I am so blessed to have this place to come to. No matter how much time has passed, I can still hear the laughter in these walls, I can still smell the cookies baking in the oven, and I can still see the moments that made this place what it is. The activities may change, the liquor and beer may have turned to red wine, and the hours of sleep may have increased but no matter what, the coffee is just as good as the very first cup.  Wishing you were all here but knowing that you always are.