Family Tradition
Today I leave Chapel Hill for a few days in the mountains. Our church is hosting its annual retreat at Blowing Rock.
This retreat is special to our family in many ways. It is something we have done every year since 2011. It is one of our family traditions.
Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of continuity. We lived in different places, and there were constantly shifting circumstances, some very good, some not. The only constant was change. And I suppose that is true for all of us sometimes. It feels like the only thing we can really count on is that things will change. Our stability is the dependable presence of instability.
Where that really sucks, though, is that instability is antithetical to tradition. There weren’t a lot of family dinners growing up. There weren’t a lot of touchstone experiences - things that we did every year, or every Christmas, or every fall. Barbara and I have been very intentional about wanting to create those kinds of experiences for our children.
Blowing Rock is one of those attempts.
I look forward to being there in the fall colors and cool air. I look forward to sharing time and space with the church family that has cared for and nurtured our family. I look forward to getting away for a couple of days.
And mainly, I am just glad to be able to continue building this tradition with our family.