Lights on the hillside remind me that we are not alone on this mountain. While I know that others inhabit this place, all sounds and sights seem to be ours.

Sound, from all directions, erupts; alumni stories, faculty seeking a comet, student laughter ping -pong balls, the crackle of indoor and outdoor fires Kathleen's flute, creaky steps and the crunch of gravel  underfoot the deafening silence inside the Episcopal Mission on a Saturday afternoon, late night (early morning?) serenades, rain falling, gently, insistently, on the roof.

Sound surrounds me...yet, it seems so quiet.

Activity, of all types, abounds: visiting the General Store, the Annex, the Candy Barrel(s); children running and running and running and running; playing King of the Hill, ping pong, sardines, Taboo, Outburst, Trivial Pursuit, Uno, Hearts; telling ghost stories; hiking- to the waterfall; rocking on the porch, counting cars, corrupting children; attempting to see the sunrise.

Activity surrounds me... yet, it seems so still. 

Photograph/postcard scenes permanently etched in my mind's eye: 

Liz, with eleven marshmallows in her mouth; seven, crammed in a bedroom closet, hiding from one, surprising another; James and John finding smooth stones in the creek; low level clouds, moving like silent whispers, across the distant ridge; rocking chairs, gently moving to and fro, occupied or not, in constant stages of rearrangement;

Graham and Mason, so grown and yet so young, attempting to find their place on the mountain; Murray and Fran, sitting on the couch, initially at opposite ends, with hands gently touching.

Photograph/postcard scenes surround me...yet, it seems so real.

Lights on the hillside remind me that we are not alone on this mountain. While I know that others inhabit this place, all sounds and sights seem to be ours.


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Valle Crucis is a retreat center outside of Boone, North Carolina and the trip to Valle Crucis is a bi-annual, time-honored tradition in which RC students, alumni, faculty and staff have the opportunity to get away from it all--together. 
 

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