Summer can wear on you, especially if you live in a hectic mess of urban sprawl-- too much traffic, asphalt jungle, fighting the commute twice a day and sometimes at lunch.  To top it all off, school's out for the summer!  They don't tell you about summer vacation and the public school system when they send you home from the hospital with a baby.  Nonetheless, we were making it all right, at least no one was injured.

The debate started one hot summer evening over dinner.  The kids were bored.  Jason and Jillian had both decided that they were sick of the local pool, Jeff (my husband) was tired of trying to keep the kids entertained along with a steady stream of money to accommodate the periodic relief from boredom.  Jason said, "there's no adventures left."  I asked him what he meant and he said, "the stuff you see on TV, the adventures, it isn't for people like us who live in the sweltering suburbs so close to our neighbors that we can hit their house with a rock."  

Once Jeff and I were sure that Jason wasn't the one who broke the neighbor's window (who can really be sure?), we set about to locate the best adventure we could find (within driving distance).  We live in Charlotte, North Carolina and we knew anything over 4 hours would be too much for all of us in an enclosed vehicle.  So the four of us sat down and began Googling.  We found this site by typing in "Asheville vacation property," and here we found the link that changed our lives-- The House At Whispering Water, the place we have vowed to return year after year (hopefully more than once this year).

The drive to the house was phenomenal.  Talk about off the beaten path!  You go to nowhere and take a right, drive to neverland and take a left and there you are.  But seriously, the house is nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina, yet centrally located to everything we wanted to do in the mountains as a family.  Jillian and I were concerned about wildlife, especially when a black bear crossed our path as we navigated through the Pisgah National Forest.  But once we got to the house and realized the amenities that awaited us, we stopped worrying.  This house is one of a kind.  I wish I could move this house from its foundation and take it back to Charlotte with me.  It's beautiful.

For a solid week we did everything we wanted to do.  Jeff and Jason went fishing in several creeks and ponds in the area.  Jillian and I made a day trip to Asheville one day and into Hot Springs for a soak in the tubs and a massage another day.  I picked up local produce at a farmer's market and made some amazing asian stew.  I mean, I had the time to slow down and think about cooking and did it ever beat take out!

I finally read two books I've been meaning to read and Jillian and I talked for hours about her dream of becoming a vetrinarian.  She's 16 and I didn't even know.  That shows how much we talk.

One night, when the kids were exhausted and had turned in for the night, Jeff and I finally took some romantic time for us, something that has been sorely overlooked for a long time.

As we drove down the dirt road leaving the House at Whispering Water, I found myself whispering, through tears, "Goodbye, refuge, quiet life, we'll be back soon."

-submitted to AAP by email from Carrie Benson, Charlotte, NC

http://www.houseatwhisperingwater.com