This is Jax.  Yes, I know that you have been missing me.  It’s hard for me to get a word in edge wise around here.  Sheriff Brickle and Deputy Digby talk a lot.  And as the new kid, I  have to sit back and learn.  I’m learning already that this traveling thing is pretty awesome.  It sure beats being in a claw machine or riding the ocean waves in a storm like before.  And since I am new to this Virginia place too…let me just say…this is just so much.  So much more than I thought it could be.

After a few days of minor mishaps, we made it here to this new campsite.  The boys said they had been here over two years ago when they first started their Adventure Of A Lifetime.  So they were excited to show me around. The hikes, the creeks, the nice people in the camp office with cupcakes…they were all still here.

And I knew right away this place was special even though we were tired from the long drive.

Did I mention the breaking down and the rain?

But what happened when we woke up the next morning?  The first thing that greeted us was a breeze!  A fall breeze!  This was my first one.  And I have to say.  I didn’t know that I could breathe until that moment.

If you are questioning whether a stuffed animal can breathe, you should have questioned first whether a stuffed animal could talk.  So neither is a valid concern, but one that begs to question your breathing skills as well.  Because what makes you breathe?

Girl Person said that she had forgotten how nice a fall breeze was.  She said that she had also forgotten how nice this campground was.  You see, at the beginning of their trip when they were here before, they didn’t have any idea what they were in for.  This place with hot water and nice showers and laundry machines are a luxury.  But not even all that is the best, Girl Person said.  She said Virginia begs you to sit and stay for awhile.

Virginia wants you to smell the crisp air. But you have to be still to feel it like you should feel it.  And I knew something right away.  I may not have been on their trip before, but I was learning the lessons.  And one lesson started with taking a day off after traveling.  And I was liking this lesson.

The fall breeze begged us to sit and enjoy it.  We may not have a front porch, but we have a front rug.

I also learned yesterday how to lay in the sun and charge up so that I could go back to the shade and then back again to the sun.

But more than anything else, I started to feel like I was part of this family.  Maybe at first I felt like a third wheel.  Maybe I thought I was just something else to carry around.  But it looks like Brickle and Digby are pretty glad I am here for the ride.

What I am learning is that we all need time to charge our batteries. No, that place that made me didn’t give me that kind of battery.

But what keeps me going is my heart that I have picked up along this ride. Because I was rescued.

Sometimes, you may feel like you don’t have any feelings left because of something that you have went through. Sure, I remember being shipping in that box from China, the claw machine, falling from that cruise ship and getting caught in an ocean storm. But what I remember more is when Brickle and Digby found me riding in on that wave.

Sometimes, you may forget how special the first fall breeze is.  Or that bite of a cupcake.  Or even the smell of a smelly dog like Digby.  But if you just sit.  If you just focus on breathing…it will come to you.  If you let it.

-Colonel Jax

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