With so many teachers and students already back at school, it feels like summer is winding down. But before it’s all the way gone, let’s talk about happy places, especially the ones that remind us of our Happy Place Collection.
Whether it’s the beach, mountains, or lake, most of us have a place we love to be with those we love most. Surely we’re drawn there by the beauty of the Creator’s handiwork, but it’s also the memories made with our people that make us long for those special places.
Our grandparents’ happy place was the mountains, specifically Highlands, North Carolina, where they built a cozy cabin after my grandfather retired back in the 1970s. They spent every summer and well into the fall there for at least twenty years.
It became our happy place, too. We visited Highlands every summer for at least a week, probably more. And most Octobers we went again—to see “the color,” you know.
Here we are on the steps of the house in Highlands circa 1975.
We spent easy days wandering through the shops on Main Street, going on picnics, playing cards, making tea cakes, and adjusting rabbit-ear antennae to pick up the Braves. There were nightly post-dinner walks on the gravelly neighborhood roads where we picked wildflowers while the grown-ups stopped to chat with friends and strangers alike.
And there was also golf—real golf for our grandmother and dad, and always at least one trip for all of us to play mini-golf at the local Putt-Putt course.
On one trip to play mini-golf when I (Lori) was about 8 or 9, I decided putting was too tame, and I wanted to golf like a grown-up.
As you might imagine, I did not think this through very well. Apparently I had not really considered the full meaning of the name “Putt-Putt”. And I really, really hadn’t considered that my grandmother was standing right behind me. Can you see what’s coming?
Yes, I took a big back swing—with my putter!—that landed full-force right in Nana’s jaw.
My memory of what happened next is a bit fuzzy. Amy and I think we took Nana to the hospital, though we’re not completely sure. I believe there was talk of possible tooth loss and certainly concern about bruising. But we both remember an ice pack. Nana was definitely applying an icepack to her jaw.
And I remember feeling pretty stupid that I had made such a big mistake that inflicted so much pain on my own grandmother!
Perhaps I was about to present the flowers below to Nana (on the right) as a goodwill gesture. This was on their deck in Highlands.
Of course, I was forgiven and she recovered physically and I recovered emotionally. It became part of our family lore: “Remember that time Lori whacked Nana with a golf club?” followed by much laughter.
It didn’t lessen our love for the mountains or for each other. In fact, I’m pretty sure if she'd had the chance, Nana might have even worn one of our Mountain Happy t-shirts. Maybe. She was always dressed to the nines, so it’s a little hard to imagine her wearing a t-shirt.
But most of us live in t-shirts these days. Would you choose the Mountain Happy shirt like Nana? Or are you a beach or lake person?
Wherever your happy place is, we hope you've gotten to spend some time there this summer making memories with those you love. And we hope your mini-golf or other outings have all been injury-free.