“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.” --Author Unknown
We opted to journey to east Texas for our Memorial Day weekend to spend some time with friends whose faces we haven't seen in 3.5 years. The adventures were plenty, the laughs continuous, and our hearts were left full and overflowing.
We arrived Saturday and rested a bit before going to check-in to our cabin for the weekend. We were happy to be out of the car, and our girls instantly started playing. There was a feeble attempt to get them to nap, but my child was creating a bit of a disturbance with all the fun new toys to play with. Oh well, we tried, and off we went to the great little area we would be staying for the remainder of our time together.
The heat that swept over us as we entered the cabin was insane, but we thought a little air conditioner and some movement from the fans would fix it all. We were wrong. After swimming and dinner and bathing the girls, the place was no cooler, and bedtime was an hour or more later than usual. The maintenance man arrived, and lo and behold, the compressor was out, it was 85 degrees in that place, and we were told to load up our stuff to move to a different location. Nice. Two young girls, insanely exhausted, and food and clothing to be repacked and loaded. Our theory for the weekend was, "we just want to spend time together and relax." At this point, we were not quite relaxed, fighting off crankiness, but thankful to walk into a cabin with a functioning air conditioner.
The next day we wanted to take the girls to the pool, which had one girl having fun, and the other sitting on a chair saying she didn't want to go in the water. That child throwing the fit? Yes, that was mine. We headed back, had some lunch, laid the girls down for a nap and went about our afternoon. We let go of the idea to return to the pool since the girls were happy to just play together, had a great cookout and cake to celebrate my birthday, and continued on in our laughter and talking.
There were a few moments that were not in the plan: a late night cabin change, a child being scared of the water, a bit of a pan fire while cooking dinner, missing party favors, and a cake with messed up icing, but, none of it mattered. We sat with friends who are dear to our hearts, who are passionate about Christ, and who encourage us to do the same. We stayed up long after we said we should go to bed as God directed the course of our conversation.
Years ago, the mishaps would have caused a large dark cloud to form overhead. This time, in that place, all was well. I did not care if anything went according to plan because who we were with mattered so much more. We shared space and responsibilities and caring for the children naturally, as if we had been living side by side all these years. And that is the blessing of godly friends, of those individuals who have entered our lives solely by God's grace. It was as if no time had passed, and the moments, which could be viewed as flops, were simply moments that will make that weekend memorable and will always send me into fits of laughter.
The heat that swept over us as we entered the cabin was insane, but we thought a little air conditioner and some movement from the fans would fix it all. We were wrong. After swimming and dinner and bathing the girls, the place was no cooler, and bedtime was an hour or more later than usual. The maintenance man arrived, and lo and behold, the compressor was out, it was 85 degrees in that place, and we were told to load up our stuff to move to a different location. Nice. Two young girls, insanely exhausted, and food and clothing to be repacked and loaded. Our theory for the weekend was, "we just want to spend time together and relax." At this point, we were not quite relaxed, fighting off crankiness, but thankful to walk into a cabin with a functioning air conditioner.
The next day we wanted to take the girls to the pool, which had one girl having fun, and the other sitting on a chair saying she didn't want to go in the water. That child throwing the fit? Yes, that was mine. We headed back, had some lunch, laid the girls down for a nap and went about our afternoon. We let go of the idea to return to the pool since the girls were happy to just play together, had a great cookout and cake to celebrate my birthday, and continued on in our laughter and talking.
There were a few moments that were not in the plan: a late night cabin change, a child being scared of the water, a bit of a pan fire while cooking dinner, missing party favors, and a cake with messed up icing, but, none of it mattered. We sat with friends who are dear to our hearts, who are passionate about Christ, and who encourage us to do the same. We stayed up long after we said we should go to bed as God directed the course of our conversation.
Years ago, the mishaps would have caused a large dark cloud to form overhead. This time, in that place, all was well. I did not care if anything went according to plan because who we were with mattered so much more. We shared space and responsibilities and caring for the children naturally, as if we had been living side by side all these years. And that is the blessing of godly friends, of those individuals who have entered our lives solely by God's grace. It was as if no time had passed, and the moments, which could be viewed as flops, were simply moments that will make that weekend memorable and will always send me into fits of laughter.
