Several months back, I got it in my head that I wanted to take some time off and go visit my family in Georgia.

Looking at the calendar ahead, the second week of October seemed like perfect timing. Schools would be out for fall break, sports would be minimal and, even though an election would be going on, it didn’t seem like the kind that would stir up too much talk.

The week before my Oct. 7 departure for Georgia, I realized how very wrong I was. Schools and sports were still a non-issue, but I never could have predicted how much would be going on around town at that time.

The Sanitary District election has since become a pretty heated race and, based on the letters we’ve been receiving, plenty of folks want to chime in on the school district’s maintenance and operations budget override. Back when I planned my trip, the lagoon project was only just being rolled out to the public; I never would have guessed that particular matter would evolve the way it did. And then, the Tuesday before I left, the Town Council ousted a staff member in controversial fashion.

So a period of time I thought was going to see a lull in Fountain Hills turned out to be a whirlwind of activity. While away, I was informed we ran five pages of letters during my anticipated “quiet time” here in town. That was topped off by the news that not only had the council put the kibosh on the lagoon; they had done so while moving forward with a potential primary property tax election. That has, of course, given us even more things to talk about.

Just so we’re clear, I’m not complaining here. Fountain Hills has always had its ups and downs and we seem to be having them in rapid succession as of late. It’s given us plenty to talk about and, more importantly, forced many of us to more carefully consider the future of our community.

However, I’m not going to pretend that I wasn’t happy to get away for those seven days. Maybe it wasn’t great timing for the staff I left to pick up my slack, but it was certainly a nice escape for yours truly.

I visited family, rode a four wheeler through wooded trails and spent time simply breathing in all of that Georgia pine with my bare feet in the grass and my head in the clouds.

We went geocaching, ate all of my favorite foods, toured some landmarks and watched some movies. I even snuck in a couple naps along the way.

What I didn’t do was work. I often get in a few articles even while on vacation but, this time, I just couldn’t allow it. The whole purpose of my trip was to spend time with family and recharge, and that’s exactly what I did. Other than the fact that fall weather was late arriving in the South and temperatures stayed high until the day before I left, it was a perfect trip.

But I’m back now and ready to roll. Fountain Hills is in a state of transition with a lot of pieces moving around the board. It’s an exciting time, and I’m looking forward to seeing how everything comes together in the end.