Jack called at 6:10 am to tell me that his alarm didn't go off so he would be about an hour late. I finished packing, got ready, cleaned the snow off the car, took my bags out to the car, did some email, and waited for him. By the time he showed up I was feeling frazzled about leaving so late on a 9 hour drive. When I backed up I looked out the side mirror to avoid the large rock on the edge of the drive but I didn't look out the rear, and hit his car as I pulled out. Ooops! Luckily it was just a tap and didn't damage either of our cars. I hoped that was the accident for the trip though. I would worry about it being the forgetfullness of aging except I did something similar when I was 17 yrs. old:)
Aeona was ready when we got there to pick her up and we were off. At Kris' house we paused just long enough to load her things and say hello to her housemates. It was nice to see them, even if only for a few minutes.
We took Kris' car and she drove the entire way (5-6 hrs) despite frequent offers to take a turn by various ones of us. I thought perhaps, she just preferred to drive her own car as long as she was not too tired. In Toledo we had a little trouble finding the road to turn on in the dark. She assured us though that we were not lost because she knew right where Ronn's house was, even though we couldn't seem to find the right street on which to turn. So we just took a street going in the right direction and picked up the correct cross street from there. Within minutes we pulled up at a little unassuming house. It didn't really seem to fit Ronn, or so I thought.
Then we walked in and the house was a lot larger on the inside than it had appeared. The door opens onto a small octagon shaped entryway with a large Master bedroom, a formal dining room, and a large open hallway into the living room with fireplace off of it. It is a little maze like with a small hall off the large open hall leading to several bedrooms, stairs going to the basement, a door going to the garage and out to a heated, attached office. It was rather fun discovering the various places. The living room has one wall mostly of windows all the way to the top of the cathedral ceiling. The house is next to an Arboretum and surrounded by trees. Looking out that direction one has the sense of being out in the country rather than the middle of a city. Ronn is very lucky to have such a wonderful place.
Dinner was ready when we walked in the door. What wonderful timing! And afterwards we went out to his swimming pool. He had turned on the heater Wednesday to raise the temperature in the pool to 103 degrees turning it into a giant hot tub. A huge space heater poolside provided a place of warmth to get dried off after getting out of the pool in the below freezing night air. I found something quite magickal about our sharing the warmth of that pool, talking, and floating, watching the steam rise to the sky. It was a special treat and a great beginning to the Retreat.
Copyright © 2000 Kyril Oakwind