This weekend, my neighbor-turned-good-friend and I are in East Texas spending a much needed kid-free weekend at my parents’ property. We left our collective five children at home with our husbands (bless them) and have spent the day doing…not much.

I slept in, ate breakfast on the porch, took a walk in the woods, ate chips and salsa, read a book and napped by the pool, took a second nap under the covers, took another walk in the woods, watched Scandal, and rode through the woods in the RTV.  I’m currently waiting for steaks to come off the grill and plan to sit in the hot tub after dinner. And all this happened with perfect fall weather (finally!) and without having to change one single diaper. Perfection.

It’s been a really hard week, and honestly, I’m still really struggling. This retreat to nature and solitude is just what I needed.