My family taking a vacation is always sort of a gamble. I am pretty sure all it would take to end the drought in the Sahara Desert would be for us to plan a vacation there, especially one that is mostly intended to be outdoors. Severe weather follows us like a shadow, always dogging our best laid plans.
For example, my daughter and I went to Hawaii some years ago for spring break. We got the airline tickets months in advance. We booked the hotel, and paid up front to get the cheapest possible rate. It was not the swanky resort on the island, but we weren't going to be spending much time there, anyway, so it didn't matter that it was all I could afford. We would only be there at night, because we were going to make the most of our time on the island, possibly the only time I would ever go because of the cost. We certainly didn't care about accommodations. It was all about the sun and fun.
Two weeks before we left, it started raining in Hawaii. It rained. And it rained. And it rained. Cruise ships wouldn't dock because of all the flooding in Honolulu. The beaches were a mess, roads were caving in, and the rain kept coming.
I figured that it would have to stop by the time we got there, because after all, it was record breaking, but it couldn't keep on forever. I kept up the optimistic attitude all the way to the islands.
We arrived just in time for the biggest landslide in island history. We were there for a week, and it stopped raining for a total of approximately 3.5 hours. Literally. The natives spoke with fascinated wonder about how much rain they had received, the most in recorded history. I am pretty sure I am the only fair skinned person in the history of travel to come home without a sunburn in March from Hawaii, never even having used a drop of sunblock.
Then, for the cherry on top, my daughter was extremely ill with the stomach flu for three days, and we couldn't even leave our hotel room. The whole thing was, in some ways, a very expensive, unmitigated disaster.
But there was a hidden benefit, something which I appreciated even then, and understand even better today. We got away, just the two of us, to a place where no one knew us, and we could just be. We had true quality time together, time when I wasn't dragged down and overstressed with all the problems that I was facing, and rebuilt some bridges between us that needed repair. In fact, because of her illness, we spent more time just being quietly together than we would have otherwise. I think God knew we needed that time, and helped us to have the right attitude to appreciate the gift, in spite of her illness.
We did go out and about, and enjoyed ourselves, in spite of the rain. The best day was when we went to Kualoa Ranch and no one was there, so we had a great trail ride (two of the 3.5 hours it did not rain, by some miracle, were while we were on that ride. I think God felt sorry for us.)
I don't know about my daughter, but I look back on that trip, and I don't remember the rain. I remember the beautiful flowers, the submarine ride (and the dramamine that went with it,) the luau under the leaking canopy, and the horse back riding. I remember the time spent with my child, where she was my entire focus for a few days, and didn't have to share my time and attention with anyone else. I remember chicken noodle soup by the bowlful, and laying together watching silly television shows while she was recuperating. And I remember our last walk on the beach, where we wrote messages to God in the sand and watched the waves wash away everything that we let go of with each word we wrote.
In fact, I remember that trip as a wonderful, healing getaway, the turning of a corner for us as we settled into a new normal after some years of tremendous hurt and upheaval in our lives.
Storms come into every life. Things don't always go as we plan. Sometimes events overtake us, and the best laid plans go upside down as things beyond our control cause problems we never forsaw. But God's glorious world is there, just waiting to be revealed if we open our eyes and see with faith and hope.
Today, I am grateful for the storms we weather together in life. I thank God every day for the companions he has provided for my journey. They are my inspiration, and the hard times we have weathered together have built a strong foundation of love and hope for each of us.
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