Back story • Hospitality & work
Getting to the Point is the Hideaway Point blog. It is the place where we share our larger vision for this special place - what inspires us, what we value and the hopes and dreams we have for Hideaway Point.
In October of 2011 we took a family vacation to the west coast. Ben was in the middle of his most intense year of medical training commuting to an hour to work that I had grown increasingly bitter towards. We lived in Newark, Delaware - my sister was on the West Coast (in Etna, CA) and my parents were living in the south of Houston town where my sister and I attended highschool.
We planned a trip to meet in California - our first time visiting my sister Maggie and her first husband Joe. We would stay at a home that my parents rented in Mount Shasta for a few days before visiting Maggie’s home in Etna. The house my parents rented was special - it had an in-ground trampoline, a zip line across a small pond with lots of beautiful places to rest and play. The kids were over the moon with excitement.
Leading up to this trip I was exhausted with and angry about a lot of things - primarily the inhumane number of hours Ben was investing at work. He had broken his left hand (unsympathetic) and had something concerning happening with one of the fingers on his right hand (irritated)… but no time to see a doctor about it (enraging). I was not loving or kind.
I remember texting two praying friends a few nights before our trip - desperate for this holiday to “work”. I had unreasonably high expectations for what this short time away was going to accomplish. I needed this time of “rest” to fix all of the broken things. We were living in an unsustainable way - and it was finally catching up with us.
We took the trip (unaware of the fact that we would lose Joe and my dad within the next several years) and made some beautiful memories - before Ben had to fly back for emergency surgery on his finger (which turned out to be a malignant tumor). I traveled home my own with the kids (angry as a hornet). It was the hardest travel experience to date - multiple flights, little kids, angry and also anxious about Ben’s prognosis. Things were not better when I got home. Looking back, this trip a catalyst for the marriage breakdown that ensued - and eventually prompted us to create space and “hide away” in New Zealand.
It is worth noting that in 2018 I surely shared photos of this beautiful trip without highlighting the personal “trouble” that was brewing. It is good to remember that life is never as simple as the photos that we share.
While I was on that trip I read a book that changed my life and gave me a new vision for a different way of living. Real love for Real Life is a book about the life and work that happened at the Art House in Nashville, TN. It is about the places, people and ideas (rooted in Biblical Christianity) that Charlie Peacock and Andi Ashworth connected with along their journey of faith.
I finished the book in the upstairs bedroom of my sister's Etna home and immediately sent Andi a message on facebook. To my surprise she quickly responded and has been a friend and mentor ever since. I traveled to Nashville to visit the art house and then Laity Lodge to hear Chuck and Andi speak. Laity Lodge is another place that has had a profound impact on my life.
In those early days (when I was striving so hard) I desperately wanted to work hard and build something similar to the Art House… but that was not in the cards. There were a million redirects in the years since - some beautiful and some painful.
Watching and learning about the Art House community was an early inspiration for what Hideaway Point is becoming. They things I learned reading Andi’s book and connecting with her in person introduced me to other ideas, people and places (Laity Lodge, L’Abri, A Rocha) that have inspired us on this journey. Hideaway Point was not planned. It is something that fell into my lap when I stopped striving and started living a consecrated life.
I am thrilled to announce that Charlie and Andi have a book that they have written together (available in March) Why Everything That Doesn't Matter, Matters So Much: The Way of Love in a World of Hurt you can pre-order it everywhere books are sold.
We believe in the power of retreat and would love to help you imagine what time away at Hideaway Point could look like for you and your family, community, organization or business. Let us know how we can help.
