ORLANDO — Last weekend, I left big city Orlando for a radically different environment: a two hour drive north past Ocala to the tiny oasis known as Cross Creek.
A spectacularly beautiful rural oasis and far cry from the theme parks of Orlando and beaches and nightlife in Miami, there is a Cross Creek that runs through this unincorporated community, which is best known as the home of author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote her classic novel The Yearling here. Her home has been preserved, and there’s a park in her name nearby. But for me and my husband Mel, it something else that draws us here: The Yearling Restaurant and Resort. We’ve been coming here around the holidays for over a decade.
The restaurant is known for its southern delicacies such as frogs legs, gator bites, and pecan pie; established in 1952, it’s happily become a Florida landmark. You can spend the night in one of their six cabins, and the property runs along the creek, with a firepit next to the river, ideal for a cozy campfire at night. It’s a slice of paradise that every city dweller in Florida should discover.
I thought about this trip today while getting ready to spend Thanksgiving dinner with my family. On a holiday like this, a lot of families might prefer the excitement of crowding into Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando, the thrill rides at Busch Gardens, and similar attractions — you know, the adrenaline-rush thingie. I’ve discovered just as much satisfaction and delight in the quiet relaxation and solitude of Cross Creek. Sometimes, I keep reminding myself, it’s the small things that can cement your happiness.
What’s Great About the Little Things?
One thing that keeps bringing me and Mel back to The Yearling is tradition. It’s our holiday tradition. So, why do so many of us love our traditions?
“It doesn’t matter what holiday we’re discussing — traditions and rituals are a seriously important part of it,” author JR Thorpe wrote for Bustle. “There are different levels, of course: some traditions are the same around the world, like Christmas trees and Hanukkah candles; while others are family-specific, like your dad getting drunk off eggnog and treating everybody to an elaborate karaoke set of Dean Martin hits every Christmas Eve.”
Excellent point, and I also think a trip to a rural oasis like Cross Creek lets me reconnect with something familiar and guaranteed to deliver on the goods: an expected comfort and joy, a trip that has a known rhythm that I love. I grew up on this, thanks to my mom. As a kid, my family did the same thing every year with summers in Lake George, N.Y. or Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H. Years later, when Mel and I lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, it was those familiar winter trips to Montreal or Portland, Maine.
Being able to march through life without the need for constant, non-stop thrills is probably a really good thing; it’s interesting how distraught we get when something goes unexpectedly wrong during the day, but we rarely pay much attention to the scores of things we get right, probably because we kind of expect them by now.
But when you can find yourself enthusiastic about the small things, like spending a quiet weekend in a cabin by a creek, in my view you’re ahead of the game.
It’s like the old joke: Where does happiness get made? At the Satis-factory, nyuck nyuck.
Okay, how about this gag: I smiled today as I handed my smartphone, wallet and $200 in cash to a poor man. And he showed great happiness as he put his knife back in his pocket, nyuck nyuck.
So I have to salute the fine folks at The Yearling Restaurant for giving us the great pleasure of their meals, lodging, and the peaceful ambiance of their rural beauty once every year. And I remind myself of how lucky I am that I have my family to enjoy the holiday with.
Thanksgiving Greeting from Freeline Media
How time flies. I first launched Freeline Media back in October 2010 after losing my job as a newspaper editor following an 8-year run. This site helped me bounce back, but more importantly, it gave me a sense of purpose, the ideal motivation to keep doing it. Again, the little things, right? Now, as I get closer to my retirement years, I plan to keep Freeline Media going for a while longer. I’m having far too much fun to stop.
And plus, for me, it’s that sense of purpose thingie.
“When people hear ‘a sense of purpose,’ they often think it has to be something big and world-changing, like finding a cure for cancer,” notes the Mayo Clinic Health Services. “But a sense of purpose also can be less grand. At its most basic, a sense of purpose directs your actions and behaviors. It’s an abiding intention to achieve a long-term goal that’s both personally meaningful and makes a positive mark on the world.”
Thank you to everyone who has been reading Freeline Media for the past — wow, 15 years! We have new contributors such as author Joseph Aisenberg, and the pleasure of finding new ways to expand our horizons when we get creative. Thanks to all of you who check in on us, and have a most memorable and cherished Thanksgiving today.
Michael Freeman is an Orlando journalist, playwright, and author of the book A Christmas Eve Story. Contact him at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
Freeline Media accepts opinion columns — ones that are polite, civil, and done with insight and good taste — from all points of view, all ideologies, all political parties and concerns. Contact us today at FreelineOrlando@gmail.com if you’d like to share your views and opinions with Freeline Media and our readers.
