Ice Cream Social

Two of my much-beloved colleagues, Matt and Valerie, showed up last Friday to spend an evening at our house in Bozeman, and then to join our clan for a weekend at Chico Hot Springs, which is just down the road from the B Bar Ranch, where we held our staff retreat this year.

Matt

Val, accompanied by Zoey

That my staff retreat was held 50 miles from our house was a total coincidence; that Matt and Val arrived early for a weekend of lounging in the hot springs was not.

These two are serious hot spring hounds. In my ten-years of visiting Chico, I've never submerged myself for more than an hour or two at a time until Matt and Val showed up. We lounged for two entire days; our Sunday session was interrupted late in the afternoon only because Val decided it was time for ice cream, which we enjoyed in various states of bathrobes, towels, and cozy clothes as we watched a wet snow fall through the steam above the pool.

Photo from: http://cookieandkate.com/images/2012/03/jenis-coffee-ice-cream-scoop.jpg

Squished into a little booth with my work and biological families as humble dishes of single scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream appeared on the table, I was sort of beside myself. Stella and Zoey were celebrating the end of school, Chris was, because of the dreadful weather, forced to relinquish all thoughts of fishing and submit to the relaxation, and Val and Matt, who have traveled the stressful under-attack-by-the-Canadian-government road at my side, were preoccupied with concerns only as heavy as  whether to order the chocolate brownie sundae or not.

I'm not sure how to fully capture the innocent and simple pleasure of being so present with people I love — and having them equally there and content. I'll be savoring the sweetness for months to come.