Little Chapel on the River

so I'm reading this book...its written by this woman who was forced from her Manhattan apartment by the attacks of Sept 11 and found herself visiting a friend in a small town of Garrison, NY in which she ends up permanently moving to because of the charm, because of the pace, because of the people....anyway I'm not far into it but I love some of the quotes and the memories and thoughts it is causing me to have as I read..

The author has known a fast pace society and pressure as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal and is now taking time to slow down...

"When I was very small, the safest place I knew was the bottom bunk bed of a trailer at my grandfather's old fish camp. The narrow structure crouched amid corn and soybean fields off a tiny slice of North Carolina's coast. It cost six thousand dollars and was our family's vacation home until I was seven. My Granddaddy Bill, a Spanish professor, called it Pettiford, which roughly translates into "little river crossing." We didn't have much money then, but I didn't know it because Pettiford had everything. A view of the water. And a screened in porch where you could stack sandy seashells and starfish without worrying if they started to stink. The neighbors' dog, Bandit, came right to the trailer door for day-old biscuits. Friends dropped by to visit without calling first. And amid the white oaks and bay laurel bushes hung a tire swing where snakes sometimes slept and had to be beaten out with sticks. I was never bored. These are the last days I remember being content with what I already had."

Again, in a season of life desiring to simplify...enjoy moments, enjoy relationships, and focus on what matters....why is this so hard to keep straight?


ps...the book is "Little Chapel on the River" by Gwendolyn Bounds