Craving “Nothing”
by Holly Varni
July 22, 2013

Young girl sitting by lake

This week there are far more “Sightings” than Satire in Moonberry Lake. The summer crowd has descended like locusts in biblical proportions. It is that time of year when our charming and quaint town triples in population and finding parking on Main Street actually becomes difficult.

The “city folk,” as we like to call them as if they’re exotic creatures, arrive in overstuffed trucks and SUV’s brimming with supplies they feel are necessary for survival.

Exhausted and stressed, they come seeking a “retreat” from the world. And that is precisely what Moonberry Lake offers, another world with different scenery, people and pace of life. It is on our sidewalks outside the shops, that they learn what it is to stroll and enjoy spending an afternoon doing nothing.

“Nothing” is what people crave. They want to have nothing to do. Nothing that is required of them, nothing that is urgent and demanding immediate results. Waking up in the morning not by an alarm, but when the sunlight in your room rouses your rested body. Meal times are not scheduled and rushed, but lazily occur when you’re hungry. And even then, linger on as you sit outside soaking in the sunshine and lake air as additional nourishment.

The event of the day may be going to get ice cream or dangling your toes in the water as you sit on the dock. Whether it’s a fishing expedition, reading in a lounge chair or watching the children and dogs play in the lake, it all brings you back from where you came. No matter how much the outer world changes, this microcosm stays the same. You experience the same thing your parents and grandparents did. They sat and played cards, dozed off in the shade, went for boat rides, and laughed about everything and nothing.

It takes “getting away” to return to what we want and who we are. Peace and calmness that evade you in that other world is now an immediate offering. Noise vanishes and is replaced by actual sound. The sound of nature, water and relaxed conversation. Days spent barefoot in the warm sun, eating the fresh catch of the day and simply breathing in the fresh air, awakens and sharpens your senses to life again. Escaping to Moonberry Lake replenishes the weary soul.

In the end, all that nothing turns out to be something pretty wonderful.

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