Carpe Diem

Seize the day! That was on my mind yesterday evening after a much anticipated trip to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon. I almost hadn't attended this year. There were plenty of places the money needed to go, my husband couldn't attend, my son needed to study for his classes...lots of excuses to keep us away. I am very happy I looked past all excuses and the lack of perfection to make a memory.

We arrived at the football stadium where we could park and take a shuttle bus out to the Feast soon after the sun came up Sunday morning. While waiting for the shuttle to arrive, I chatted with a retired woman who had driven from Chicago. She had been to the first Feast thirty-nine years earlier and it was still a highlight of her year. I told her about our first trip to the Feast, in 1978. I can remember the date because it was not easy pushing my daughter in her stroller. Times goes by quickly...

I always anticipate the moment the bus pulls up to the actual location. The sights, scents, sounds...it is like the calendar rolled back 200 years. Perhaps it is my love of history that makes this a favorite destination. It could be the happy family memories it brings back. Perhaps it is the scent of wood smoke, the autumn trees, standing beside the Wabash River as a mist covered the water. Imagining what it would have been like when the Fort was an active center of trade in an era when the river was the central means of transportation. Then there is the food, always the food. I highly suspect I could put a mark next to "all the above" if this was an actual test question.

My son asked that we stop at a food booth before heading for the church service. (Come to think of it, we had to stop at a food booth before heading for the bus to take us back to the car, too.) We ate buffalo stew as we listened to the Catholic service, much the way it would have been two centuries earlier. Although the temperatures would rise to the mid-70s later in the day, it was cold enough we could see our breath as we talked to each other. As interesting as the church service was, we decided to find the "hot spiced cider booth" immediately after eating our unusual (albeit delicious) breakfast. The cider warmed us on the inside as well as the cups providing a heat source for our very cold hands.

We spent much of our time together, chatting about the sights and sounds, enjoying the food and constantly commenting how beautiful everything was this year. The mist covered the entire area for the first couple of hours making the scene ethereal; one could almost imagine it really was the eighteenth century. We both decided it was good that Dad didn't try to come. The mist was also keeping the wood smoke close to the ground, something I personally enjoy but it would have caused his health great challenges.

Although I am blessed to have a son who enjoys being with his mother at such events, I also am aware he is a teenage boy. I suggested we go our separate ways so we could both enjoy our own areas of interest. I wanted to watch the dulcimer ladies (and one gentleman) playing for awhile, something I knew would make him quickly restless and axe throwing wasn't my cup of tea. There were multiple concerts and events taking place, one of which was a concert of music from that era. I sat on a comfy hay "chair" and listened to music for quite awhile before heading off to find a booth selling sweet annie.

I believe tradition is very important, to have things we "always do" is cement that holds a family together when the winds of adversity come against us. I'm sure my son didn't blink when I walked up with a sweet annie bouquet in my arms, something I purchase at every Feast. For $3.00, I have a scented reminder of that day. My other reminder is a sweet, little, one cup teapot purchased from one of the many traders I chatted with during the morning.

We had agreed to meet in the corner of the Feast area closest to the gate leading to the shuttle busses. While waiting for him, I spent the remainder of my time watching two fife and drum corps perform, again sitting on a hay "chair". There is a huge amount of acreage so I was also thankful for one piece of technology...cell phones! Since we arrived very early, we were both ready to head for the shuttle bus as the temperatures were becoming quite warm. The crowds were also increasing by this time. The bus driver told us there had been 15,000 people riding the shuttles the day before and it looked like they could have at least that many on Sunday. (That did not include at least as many people who drove out to the site.) It had been very difficult to crawl out of a warm bed so early but we had been able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Feast before the crowds arrived.

I walked in our garage last night where the aroma of sweet annie mixed with stored apples awaited me, a delicious combination of scents. I'll decide what to do with the sweet annie later today. I may leave it as is or perhaps weave it into a small wreath.

Carp Diem...seize the day...not perfection. I could have missed out on a memory making day if I let myself get upset over the lack of perfect circumstances. Instead, my son and I had a magical day...Narnia magic...Christmas morning magic...Gift of God kind of day...rare...breathtakingly beautiful kind of day.