Corking the Bottle

Kathy and I went camping last week at Spring Mill State Park in southern Indiana. It gets its name from the mill there that has operated since the 19th Century, powered by a spring that flows from a cave at the upper end of a flume. Such mills grind grain between two millstones: "a pair of circular stones between which grain or another substance is ground." The name of the lodge at the park is called The Millstone. But millstone has another definition: "any heavy mental or emotional burden (often used in the phrase a millstone around one's neck)." I went to school with a girl named Millstone. Even back then I thought that was an unfortunate surname. But change the "l" to an "e" and the word becomes "milestone, which is something very different. A milestone is "a significant event or stage in life, progress, development, or the like of a person. nation, etc." Drinking was my millstone until I got the "l" away f...

We're going camping in southern Indiana this morning. Spring Mill State Park has a recreated 19th century village, a working mill, trails, and a cave. Did you ever go camping with a left-over buzz? I have. It takes the entire camping adventure to feel decent again. I couldn't wait to get home and kill my discomfort with a drink -- or two or three. How nice it is, camping on these crisp autumn days! The leaves are just beginning to change color. Rocky, our little dog, is going with us. God, thank you for the beauty you created. And thank you for my sobriety.