The best things in life are free

(or at least paid for by other people)

Last night, we got a last-minute invite to head over to a cabin by a lake in Phillipstown, owned by in-laws of in-laws. Said in-laws (Jess's brother and his family) were staying there for a couple nights. With no other plans, and an unexpected free evening, we took the long (well, 45 minutes) country drive (one of the more pleasant drives I've taken in this area) north, and ended up on a narrow dirt road that ended by a cabin on a lake.

We stayed for a bit over 3 hours, and in that time we fished, swam, sat by a fire, made s'mores, burned popcorn, and stood quietly on a dock watching lightning flash in the sky so far away we never heard thunder. The lightning-watching was especially memorable. We were looking up into the hills that surrounded the lake, seeing far-away lightning take a pitch-black sky and illuminate the shapes of distant clouds. Sometimes the lightnings would come with startling frequency, sometimes you could even make out the shapes of actual bolts of lightning. Other times it was just a vague flicker of light from afar. Either way, we realized we were seeing something special.

I can't remember a single more relaxing evening I've had on a work night. Those moments were precious, priceless even, and all it cost us was a willingness to say, "Sure, we'll go for a drive."