We went to the ranch yesterday.  This land has been in my grandmother’s family for generations, and this particular pond is called lake Alpha, named after my great-grandmother.

The ranch is my little dwelling place of perfect happiness about 30 miles north on highway 70…..

My soul smiles when I come here.   Its a feeling of peace that I really can’t describe. 

This is where we spent our summers.  Camping, fishing, swimming, sitting by the campfire and loving every minute of it.    This is where my grandmother taught us how to make the perfect dough-boy.  This is where my daddy put a grody ole’ catfish in my little blow-up pool when I was 2…..instilling in me a fear of fish that holds true to this day.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to fish.  It’s the act of actually getting it off the hook that makes me cringe.  

This is where we spent hours on our four-wheelers exploring every acre.  This is where my daddy would wake my sister and I up cranking up the Eagles on his trusty jam-box.   This is where incredible memories were made…… 

This place is my paradise.

 We packed up the kids, the fishing poles, a couple of lawn chairs, the cooler and

had

a

b  l  a  s  t.

In case you were wondering, I did not fish.

I do not like fish.

The thought of placing my thumb inside a fishy mouth gives me the heebie-jeebies. 

In case you were wondering, I had to look up how to spell the word heebie-

jeebies, just to prove to Troy it is a real word.   I was right.

I love being right.

Click here and I will prove it.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourself.  We watched, and cheered and smiled, and enjoyed a beautiful Summer evening at the ranch.

We we watched our kids make memories of their own.

This place invokes peace.

This place makes me smile.

We played and had fun.

Dude, all you need is a beer and fishing pole to enjoy the ranch….

even if your fishing pole has a picture of lightening McQueen on it……..

This is what triumph feels like….