Retreat

Every once in a while I need a retreat from reality and the complexities, frustrations, and painfulness that sometimes marks it. When I need this escape, I flee north to the Barger Farm. Gram and Pop Barger live on a sprauling, hundred-acre farm, set peacefully in Adams County. This farmhouse has spoken safety, peace, hospitality to my siblings, cousins, and myself for our entire lives, drawing us for holiday or simple retreats. The Barger Farm is where I learned about nature and caring for livestock, perfected bicycle riding, and learned how to drive a lawn mower, shoot a gun, climb a tree, and whistle, among many other "skills". The land carries memories of lawn-mower tours, kitten-taming sessions, baseball and kickball games, hay bale mazes, bicycle obstacle courses, tool workshops, and camping expeditions. The farm is certainly shiloh or "home" for the kids, for our families, and for so many of our friends.

This weekend I rested at the farm. Most of the time was spent just "being" with my Gram and Papa, as well as my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Barry. Morning is the best part of the day in the Barger Household and breakfast certainly the greatest meal.


Breakfast begins like clockwork with a grapefruit half, carefully carved around its perimeter to liberate the juicy wedges for consumption. I might enjoy the grapefruit more if I was not so eager to arrive at the next courses.

Next comes cereal. Gram and Papa always have 5+ selections of healthy grains to choose from, along with yogurt and fruit of every color to top it off. If there is room, we add milk to this mounding concoction.

The last portion is definitely the best part: sweet rolls. Somehow, Gram and Papa always have fresh sweet rolls from their local bakery, "Heyerly's". This large white box consistently appears in the morning, bearing donuts and rolls of every flavor and topping. From chocolate-covered bismarks to blueberry donuts and bearclaws, these rolls never let us down. We usually divide these rolls into halves and fourths in order to try all of them...and this continues for the rest of the morning, as we continue to pick at and divide these sweet treats in order to make ourselves feel better about eating the entire box.



Sometimes we pour a glass of orange juice or milk as an afterthought, attempting to balance the unhealthiness of course #3. All the while, prayer, laughter, and warm conversation mark this meal at the Barger's. Breakfast on the farm assuredly makes any trip to the farm.

This retreat was so needed and so appreciated. Enoying great conversations, comforting meals, and a beautiful night's sleep in a bed filled with down, I felt rejuvenated to face reality again.