As the summer ends

As we begin the last quarter of 2026, I am overwhelmed by all the endings and new beginnings our family has had. Like seasons change, so do our lives, and as this summer comes to an end I can sit back and reflect on it all and put it into a blog to come back to and smile one day and maybe find a reader who can relate.

July was super busy with guests, and I met some really awesome people. I finally learned pool chemistry well, which has saved money. I really enjoy maintaining the pool, and I love being outside and keeping the grounds and plants looking good. I was still working for my old job remote when they decided to sell. I had worked for that company almost twenty years, creating the structure of accounts and filing, and the organizing of all things office. At the beginning it was my baby, this company and I honed it for all those years, until my husband and I found The Ridge. It was then, maybe also my age, that made me start looking at what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. As we made the decision for me to come here, I carried that baby with me in the form of remote work. On July 25, that baby belonged to someone else now. I helped close the months after, but the desire to be part of that diminished every day. I was needed here more, and I got a greater satisfaction from happy guests. The work here doesn't feel like work. There is a big difference from working for a company and working for yourself. The Ridge is our baby; the company was really someone else's all along. It was a part of me for so long the ending felt bittersweet. Men made money and I take comfort that I worked with integrity through it all.

I was blessed with another grandbaby that decided to make her way into the world in a very dramatic way. With this business I have to block dates and make arrangements for care of animals when taking time off. Sunny was due August 24th and so that week I had blocked out to be with my daughter and help. I was sleeping pretty hard one morning and dreamed my cell phone was ringing. I ignored the ring as my mind told me it was a dream while I was dreaming and I had left it in the living room. I thought I heard it again in my sleep state but again it did not wake me. Finally, after three times I woke and ran to the living room where I saw my son in laws name on my phone calling. It was July 31 at around 3:00 am. He explained that my daughter was in surgery having their baby. He did not know a lot other than my daughter had been hurting and trying to put off going to the er, but the pain was so great they went in. They checked her and immediately prepared her for a c-section. While I was on the phone with him the nurse came in and I could tell in her voice this was a very scary situation. She had a placenta abruption. The Dr. explained to her had she came in any later she might not have been bringing a baby home. Thank God Almighty Sunny is healthy and doing great. My wonderful husband drove to the hospital, saw our daughter, and immediately drove the six hours here to give me the opportunity to get down there and be with my daughter and meet my new grand.

I am currently going through 37 totes of items from our last home-that's right! Our house sold! I was so impatient and angry for over a year when offers came and went not understanding why it kept happening. On one hand I would say All in Gods time, but as the time didn't suit me, I would be frustrated. Sometime in August, I really did just let it go. The offer was not idea, but it was enough. Thirty days later most of our belongings have come here, and the rest stored in our shop. I did not participate in the packing of our old house as I was busy here at The Ridge. My husband and our neighbors and friends all helped, and I was humbled by that and also had a sense of regret leaving them behind. I was down for a short visit before the inspection but somehow knew that would be the last days in that home. I soaked it all in and said my goodbyes. When I arrived back in Arkansas that time felt different, I was home. God timed it just perfect.

Even though the world is turned upside down right now and my house here looks like a disaster zone with totes to go through and decisions to be made about what stays and goes from our old place, my husband is now homeless and renting, there is a major light at the end of this coming soon. We will be together again soon, and my husband will get to experience The Ridge the way he intended when he first set eyes on it. working for his company thirty something years, he will now feel the joy of working for himself also. We are both super excited and ready for this next chapter of our lives. Every season there will be new beginnings and endings, but as this summer ends, I am ready!