The Pisgah Inn was Pumpkin Bisque Thick with people. Last weekend we visited and had virtually no wait for a window seat. Had I come to eat today, they were selling sandwiches on the sidewalk. I came back to buy a fleece jacket because I was simply unable to make a $40 dollar decision last time and this time I was determined to take the plunge. After the investment in clothing I went to the graveyard Fields Exhibit. I love that they have named these pull off over views "Exhibits". It's like this is what the people of today have come to understand and have come to expect. I mean why should a person drive 50 miles let alone 821 miles to look at something that they can gawk at simply by channel surfing their 50 inch flat screen TV? Well maybe because you really want to see it, feel it, breathe it and live it in the moment. That is what I chose to do today, after all it's in our back yard and one of 1000 Reasons to Love Hendersonville which is what I explained to this traveler, who had paused in her tracks to retrieve my fallen glasses. She had come from Joplin, Missouri. You may have heard of it, then again maybe not, but Joplin was in the headlines not long ago for suffering through a torrent of tornadoes. The trauma was well documented for a day or two but the continuing trauma to those who live there goes on far beyond the headlines. She had survived and she had served in the hospital and she had supported her friends, family, neighbors and even strangers (volunteers who had come to help and set up camp in her home). The post traumatic stress of these weather events goes far beyond anything I had ever conceived or imagined. The color of the autumn leaves, the sounds of the falling waters and the challenge of an uphill climb were a welcomed relief and solace to a person who had been conscripted and served her country in a war zone on a quite cul de sac turned inside out and upside down by the more violent sides of nature.
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