Queen for a day

My poor sister is hospitalized again with pancreatitis. No one knows why she got it the first time, or the second. I did a little research into causes and one cause is kawasaki disease. This is probably an unsatiated longing for motorcycles, though I didn't look up the definition on that one. Anyway, all you praying types, if you would pause a moment to pray for Amy, I would sure appreciate it. Amy is the funniest, kindest person I know and it will be a bummer if we discover that that is what is causing her pancreatitis.

So while Amy was suffering in the hospital, I was with my family that made me queen for a day on Mother's Day. They made my meals, cleaned the kitchen, took me shopping and out to eat the day before, made me lovely cards, and then told me we could do whatever I wanted with our day. I had been waiting for this opening. I had been begging for a year to go do the whole new Riverwalk in Fort Mill. It is along the Catawba river and starts at the spot where I hope to launch the kayaks this summer. Then the river races down 3 miles to River Park where we would disembark. I have been longing to walk the route along the Catawba to decide if this would be dangerous to the point of death, or just to the point of foolishness.

My family calls my love of hiking in nature "forced marches." I believe, in fact it was Amy, the same Amy groaning in the hospital right now, that coined that phrase to describe me. It stuck. I have a difficult time urging the rest of my family that walking all day in the sunshine along a river is as wonderful as playing Mario Cart and eating gummy worms. But yesterday I was offered carte blanche the activity of my choice.

It was as beautiful and peaceful as I had hoped. The river ran fast and high, and already there were kayakers on it. We decided that should I run into problems kayaking it in the future, the trail stays along the route nearly the whole way, so I could conceivably drag my body out of the water, and stumble to the trail for help if needed. Oh sure, I might need to battle moccasin snakes or venomous copperheads, and copses of poison ivy, and maybe on a really bad day a rabid fox to crawl up the steep bank and thick vegetation to reach the trail. It was not preferable, but it was doable if necessary.

At one point on the trail, there were 4 carved seats in logs, side by side. The seats looked like thrones, with a high curved back. There was a large throne, a medium throne, a small throne, and a baby throne. I sat on the throne, the medium one, overlooking the sparkling Catawba. The weather could not have been more lovely, and my family was treating me the way I wish I could be always treated. I sat on my throne, Queen for a day.

"I wish every day was mother's day," I sighed. This was a selfish thought, but at the moment I didn't know my poor sister was in the hospital wishing Mother's Day would end with a cocktail of strong pain killers.

That's the problem with this world. It isn't perfect. If one corner is perfect, almost for sure the adjacent corner is wrinkled.
"But then you would need a special super Mother's Day because you would get used to every day being Mother's Day," said Asherel.
And she's right. Here on earth, everything is relative. For Amy, I'll bet cleaning toilets without pain sounds like a pretty special day right now.

As I reflected on this, I thought of the series on Ecclesiastes our pastor is preaching this month. Solomon understood all this. He found that there was nothing under the sun that was permanent, nothing that was not infused with futility, no pursuit of man  that would ultimately satisfy. But he did see that the best one could do was to look upon everything as a gift of God to be enjoyed for a season.

And know that all things would have their day, but that day would end. It is true lamentably for Mother's Day, and joyfully for Pancreatitis.

Psalm 16:6-8

 ⁶The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
 ⁷I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
 ⁸I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Prison of Fun

I know if your household is like mine, you are taking no more backtalk from your teenager- whether she likes it or not, we are going to Disneyworld. No more arguing and complaining. She will just have to finish school at another time.
Oh, I know what you are thinking... cruel evil parents to be forcing your child to go to a nice hotel, eat meals out, fly on an airplane, and have to spend a day at an amusement park. Suffering builds character however, and if she will not go willingly, she will have to be dragged there.

The Disney tix are free- from a great program called "Give a Day, Get A Day", where organizations such as Destination Imagination give credit for a day at Disney in exchange for volunteer work. Airfare is cheaper than driving if we book soon, and Grandma Gert lives an hour from Orlando and we are long overdue for a visit with her. If I can pull it all together, I have a brief 4 day window that I wouldn't miss anything crucial and I will try to see Grandma and Disney. I can't do any lifting or kayaking or anything with my hurt elbow for probably at least 3 more weeks anyway. But first, I have to overcome the reluctance of my kid, who has no interest in Disneyworld.

Honestly, no disrespect to Disney, neither do I. I just feel every kid should see Disneyworld once in their life, if for no other reason than to see firsthand the gold and glitter and forced gaiety of excess. I understand Asherel's disinterest. Our passions run along the same riverbed. We love nature, animals, mountains, oceans, waterfalls. We both hate rides and noise and crowds. The tickets are non-transferable, so don't start writing me telling me how much you love rides, and noise, and crowds, and would love to put us out of our misery.

I always leave places like that feeling a little like King Solomon, the richest man of the Bible, who had everything he could ever desire- all the glitz and glitter, horses, parties, wives, food.... and in the end, found it all "vanity- a chasing after the wind." Still, since it is being dropped in our lap, I figure we should go see for ourselves why millions throng there. You never know what pearl of great wisdom might be hidden or where. Even Solomon, in the midst of his despair over the futility of so much of what we do in life recognized that God does send gifts of joy, and even sometimes wealth for us to find comfort on the often troubling journey of life. Maybe God is sending us to Disney for a purpose. We will don our Mickey Mouse ears the better to hear Him.

Ecclesiastes 1:14
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-19
¹⁸ Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.