My youngest daughter and I just returned from spending three days with my parents not doing much of anything except being together.  Sometimes that’s the best way to spend your time.

Tranquility.

What a peaceful word that is! It just rolls off the tongue…tran-quil-i-ty.

Tranquility…being in the middle of nowhere with no agenda, demands, or deadlines.

 …watching hummingbirds dart to and fro between feeders trying to keep all others at bay.

…watching squirrels eat at the bird feeder as welcomed guests even as brilliant red cardinals come in for a taste.

Tranquility…three generations - father, daughter, and granddaughter - leisurely strolling to the creek (the same creek where that father took that daughter swimming as a child) and wading in the cool water with sand and gravel between your toes.

…“sitt’n a spell” where only the sound of twittering birds, bubbling water, and a ten-year-old splashing in delight can be heard.

…marveling over the size of a grasshopper, exploring an old gopher hole, and exclaiming over the size of a tree whose trunk may faintly record the initials of the ten-year-old’s great-great-grandmother and her beau.

          …having your mother’s undivided attention, as if her greatest delight is listening to her forty-one-year-old rattle on and on.

          Tranquility…reminiscing over times gone by while going through old picture albums.

          …Mom making tomato gravy just for the two of you.

          …the smell of overripe fruit and the sound of “beezing” creatures as you pick figs.

          …a yellow swallowtail silently and effortlessly floating above the lantana.

          …the comforting smell of your grandmother’s old house.

…sitting under the cedar tree your great-grandfather planted.

          Tranquility.

          Watering your “roots” and feeling connected just by being together.