A MEMORY LANE NAMED FAIRFIELD GLADE (July 27 - August 28, 2019)

One more time we made our way to Crossville, Tennessee and the Wyndham Resort at Fairfield Glade.  Travel from Indiana went without a hitch and we rolled our bags into a two bedroom condo in the Kensington Woods section just like we did when we first visited in 1983.

Then, there was just a sales trailer, a hand full of townhouses, a brand new 9 hole golf course, and a lot of promises.  Now, 36 years later, the promises have become reality.  Ninety holes of championship golf, lakes, time share units, private homes, shopping center, conference center, indoor recreation facility, swimming pools, mini golf, and on and on and on.

This was to be a five week stay to just relax and enjoy the retired life.  It was not vacation.  It was life

and it couldn't have been better.  Sundays were church and the brunch at the Country Club.  Mondays were outdoor concerts and food trucks at the park.  Wednesdays were Mrs. Millers donuts and the Farmer's Market.  The weather on the plateau was pleasant and the trails worth walking.

But what was most memorable was.....the memories!  Memories that drifted back into my mind as I walked past the playgrounds where our children played and laughed (and got mad at each other).  They were 7, 4, and 1 that first year.  The old lodge has been taken down but, as I stood where it used to be, in my mind I could hear endless "Marco.... Polo" calls echoing across its indoor pool.

The mini golf course has been redone but the layout is the same.  I walked the entire route while

envisioning those excited kids as they tried their hardest to put that little ball into the big hole while avoiding the various impediments that stood in their way.

We walked along the cascading creek and stopped to take a picture of the three seated on the jagged rocks while the waters rushed by.  The littlest trying to big and the biggest trying not to be bored.  The middle one just trying not to hurt her arm, broken in a fall from a horse.  What a struggle to get them where they needed to be seated.  Now, it is a moment frozen in time.  It is a moment that reminds me once again about the importance of family and how quickly those treasured times are gone.

Being old enough to retire and travel is wonderful but there is a certain emptiness to it.  Maybe we now just have too much time to reflect, to remember.  Remembering is a blessed part of the aging process but it is a mixed blessing.  One must learn to balance the remembering with the dreaming, the melancholy with the adventure of each new day.  I am still learning how to do that and, as a tear runs down my cheek, I pack to head back to Indiana and Missouri to see the grand kids and make more memories..