Blue Ridge

 

Some people just don't get it. They arrive on the mountain and its just another place. A collection of creaky old buildings full of outdated furniture and dust.

But if you've ever worked here...If you've ever stayed here with a group and really experienced this place, its nothing short of magic.I lost a piece of my heart here in 1995 and every year I come back and visit it. When my pieces unite, it is overwhelming and yet complete.

The entrance hasn't changed since I first stepped foot on the mountain the summer after my freshman year of college. A narrow, curvy road winds its way up through a dark canopy of trees..over a small rock bridge where tales of a troll echo. Its the entrance to another world and thus the magic begins.

Lee Hall is the mecca to which all who come here must visit merely to sit in a green rocker on a quiet porch and stare at the mountainous skyline, listen to the creek tripping over rocks and the hear the birds...such happy birds. Its green as far as the eye can see. Plush, fluffy trees blow in the breeze because there's always a breeze here.

To stay here is to jump backward in time. There is no air conditioning, no televisions, no electronics at all in the rooms of Lee Hall. I bring a fan and prop open the enormous window..that still opens and closes with ease. The chilly air that blows across the creek is one of the secret ingredients for the most peaceful sleep ever.

My first summer here was one of adventure and independence. I had completed my freshman year of college and was determined to NOT go back home. That's how I got here. The pay was little but it was far far away from the control of my parents. It was fated because that's the summer I met Scott, my first love. He drove a motorcycle. We'd take off on our free days and ride the Parkway to a river overlook. We'd swim in the icy water and go rock hopping. I made him wait two weeks for that first kiss..sweet torture from an innocent girl. We spent nights in one lawn chair staring at the stars. And when he greeted my visiting parents, he blurted out, "Hi, I'm Scott, and I love your daughter."

Needless to say my parents were a little taken aback.

But apart from the magic of the mountain, we couldn't last. Distance and difference took hold where mystery and romance once lived.

 

But I came back another summer. The mountains still captivated me. The feeling of thousands of souls and hundreds of years still courses through the halls. The unexplainable peace I feel...its all still here.

And so I return. To reunite my pieces..to listen to my soul...to just be without interruption...and consume the magic that is this place.