The Cabins in Georgia.

During my childhood, I was very blessed. I saw that then, I just understand it more now.

I had a mother who cared for our home in the most patient of ways. She catered to us and cleaned. She spent a large amount of time involving herself in my school events and field trips, extracurricular activities, and hobbies.

I was blessed.

I had a father who worked hard, literally broke his back, and loved his family strongly. He taught me things I wouldn't have learned without him, not easily. He taught me how to fish and use a hammer. He taught me how to hunt and make things with my hands. He taught me about the woods and the creatures and inhabitants that lie inside. He even taught me how to play chess. My dad never struck me as a chess player, but he taught me how it was played. I remember one time when I was about six or seven years old. My uncle Mike, one of my dads brothers, had bought or maybe been gifted an extremely nice glass chessboard with glass pieces to match. I was young so I don't remember exactly where it came from, but I remember wanting to play, and my uncle telling me I was probably too young to grasp the concept of the game, which lead to my dad saying, "oh really?", without saying, "oh really?", and teaching me to play chess on his chessboard. As a mother now myself years later, anyone tells you your kid won't grasp something, and you are now determined to change that.

I still remember how to play chess but I don't remember where that beautiful chessboard came from.

Anyways, my dad is passed away now, since 2008 when I was thirteen years old. He left behind numerous amounts of information and memories when he departed. Things I am grateful to still remember and hold dear to me.

I was blessed.

I grew up with both of my parents, and I was blessed.

One of the most fondest of memories in my childhood time with them both, was the cabins in Georgia.

My dad started taking us to vacation at a place called Buck Creek Cabins in Jackson, Georgia. It was right in the same area as High Falls and I believe I was around eight or nine years old when we started traveling there. We visited there multiple times from the age of eight to thirteen. We took one of my best childhood friends, Rebecca, with us once and family members on occasion.

It was one of my favorite places to be, even though I didn't know it right away. My parents would let me explore the falls, and walk down to the state water park, as well as shopping around at the local small businesses in between. There was, and still remains, an abandoned power plant behind the falls. It's really quite something if your into that kind of thing.

The place was just so memorable for me. My parents and I were together and making sweet memories for us to all keep.

When we woke up in the cabins, I could tell my dad felt refreshed, relaxed even, and for anyone who knew my father, knew that was hard for him to do most times. He was high strung, and never not doing something. He would brew his morning coffee and let me go to the stores right in front of the cabins to get one of the cereal cups, and later in the day he would grab us homemade fudge from the little candy and sweets store attached to it. There was a thrift store on the other side that my mom took to, and we all enjoyed walking around in together.

The state water park was a place for kids to run around, get on water slides, and the parents could relax a bit. It was great too, but the falls were amazing. The falls and the cabins really had me. Between the water rushing over top of slick, brown and grey stones, the lightning bugs, and no streetlights, making the view of the stars remarkable. That is something I still understood the beauty in, even as a child. My dad had taught me that these lovely things were only a few of natures gifts. If you asked him about juicy, fresh, fruits, he would tell you, that those were natures gold.

We made a numerous amount of memories in High Falls Georgia as a family. It was certainly my favorite vacation spot with my mom and dad. I got the opportunity back in 2018 to return there. I hadn't been there in ten years or more at the time. Going back as an adult, without either of my parents felt wrong, but it also was nostalgic. A lot had changed in ten years in the small town of High Falls, just like it has anywhere in ten years time. Kens Place, which was a restaurant on the falls that we frequented when we traveled there that had a small bar set up on the deck outside you could see the falls from. My mom and dad made quick friends with the owner Ken, his son Jason, and a sweet little waitress that I'll never forget, named Kitty.

Next door there was a small convenience store with a boy named Justin that worked there. He would come over and sit on the deck with everyone and we got to know him well too. Him and the waitress, Kitty, were good friends and use to play pranks on each other, until it got out of hand with one of them ending up with over one hundred crickets in their vehicle...

When I returned ten years later, there was no one selling honey out under tents on the side of the road. The water park was no longer there on the strip between the cabins and the falls either, and someone new owned the cabins, not the sweet little elderly woman that my dad took time to have coffee with. Kens place was no longer there, but to my surprise, the little store attached to it still was, and the gas pumps outside were being maintained and utilized, unlike before. I pulled in, and knowing that the restaurant wasn't there anymore, I thought, this is a small, down home town, with people and community like the people in the town I am grateful to know. Someone here might be able to tell me something about Ken, his restaurant, and his son Justin.

As I walked into the store, I quickly remember how it was bigger inside than it looked from the store front. The tall, slender man with silvery hair was the only person inside. He wore a button up shirt and blue jeans, with a big golden belt buckle. He quickly greeted me as I got up to the counter. When I informed him that I hadn't been in High Falls for ten years, and was wondering if he could tell me anything about Kens place that use to be next door, his eyebrows went up and touched the ends of his silver strands. He grinned, and may have even let out a small chuckle, and said that some years back, kens had closed, and he had moved some ways down High Falls state road and ran a garage for some time with his son, Justin. He did tell me, he wasn't sure if they were still there.

I expressed my excitement to him about how the first person I had spoken to here knew who Ken was, thanked him, and apologized for not buying anything before getting back in my car and heading down High Falls Road. I however, never found the garage the man had spoken about, but drove on and passed by what use to be Kitty, the waitress's house. It was all nice to remember and be so close to again.

I spent two nights there on my trip back. The one thing that hadn't changed, were the lightening bugs along the trees at the edges of the woods. You don't really see those in Florida, and as I stood there in the dark noticing the dimly lit insects, fluttering along the pretty wood line, I swear I could here my father. "You see the lightenin' bugs pook?" It reminded me of the time we went to Ken's place and hung out there all night with them. My dad actually went and got a small grill and made steaks outside on the deck for everyone. Outside of a restaurant. It was hilarious, and approved by Ken, and we all had a great time that night. I'm almost certain everyone remembered my dads steaks, as I have yet to have one as good since he was alive.

Times I will surely never forget. I get to keep these memories with me for as long as I can remember, thanks to my mom and my dad. I can only hope to be able to do the same for my children.

Drop the money, take off work, and go on the trip.