STRANGE PHENOMENA

Ever since returning from Disney something rather strange has been happening: 

 Even with my eyes open, i have but to imagine the places i visited and i get these vivid halucinatory visions!

i can see and smell so clearly!    It’s as if a part of my brain has awakened and is trying to play a sick trick on me.   i can even see these visions in color – something that typically eludes me.  i’m not quite sure what it means or what this strange development might be telling me, but i’m concerned that it might just be that i don’t take enough vacations.

i don’t know anyone who’d say they take too many, save for a few zealous, masochistist, workaholics; or maybe the guilty, insipid rich.   It could be that there’s something unique about the Disney experience.  i know that in advance of the trip i set my mind to view it as a pilgrimage. The seriousness of such a journey has the potential to predispose oneself to powerful experiences and memories.  Maybe i ate a bad donut at the D squared in Logan!  i really can’t say for sure why what i’m experiencing is happening, or if it’s indeed remarkable.

Does everybody go through this?  Is this really how life is supposed to be indellibly imprinting on my mind? If it is, i’ve been cheated until late.  i’d hate to think that i’ve actually been asleep all these years.  It isn’t a stretch really, when i consider much of my life.  So much of it’s been so… uninspired.

So i could be this modern day Rip Van Winkle; snoozing away with my eyes open for 42 years (or at least since puberty).  The best part of all this is that i still get to enjoy the old blessings upon waking up.  My family isn’t dead.  i don’t have amnesia (though with some things a bit of memory loss would be convenient).

i’d have rather woken up with my old body – not THE old body that i’ve grown to tolerate. i could use a bit more hormone production.

(Strike that….. that’s too often been more trouble than it’s worth.  i’ll consider depleted testosterone levels a new blessing.)

So here i am, going about my daily routines just like i did before vacation.   But there’s this part of my brain that has this whole world stored in it.   i know that’s not unusual.   It’s called memory.   Yet now my memories – even the ones before Disney – are….different, vivid, defined.   i’m hoping for more than a psychotic yet pleasant distraction from this new world inside my head.   My  prayer is that God is waking me to the possibilities.

Not just any possibilities; a great man once said that man is content to wallow in the dust and eat mud-pies because he doesn’t understand the offer of a holiday as sea.   Though i’ve been a Christian for 15 years or so, i feel like only now am i just beginning to stir from my self-centered slumber.   Not that i didn’t experience spurts of energy toward godly application in the past, but in retrospect it all seemed so self-indulgent.   Now at 42 i’m seeing how difficult it is for a person who’s comfortable and stable to put their life’s collection of stuff on the line for Christ.   Maybe that’s why God – in his twisted, humorous way – has seen fit to keep personal accomplishment from me.   No one knows my ego like He does.

Perhaps you could pray for me……right now.   i’ll wait.

Thanks.   i need so much more than i can supply.   There’s no way to sustain what’s effervescing inside me with the innate drive i possess.   Blow me away, Lord.   Please.

SURVIVED THE PILGRIMAGE

For those of you who take the religious connotation of “Pilgrimage” to heart, i apologize for what is about to ensue.

Disney was GREAT!!!!!!

i survived the plane.

i survived Rockin’ Roller Coaster (very first thing we did)

i survived The Tower of Terror

i survived being assualted by THRONGS of people.

i survived aching feet, arthiritic knees, stiff hip, sunburned nose, muscle fatigue, record Florida heat, and a 45 minute line at Wal*Mart.

i survived Expedition Everest.

i survived Thunder, Splash, and Space Mountains.

i survived wiping my rear-end with 80 grit sandpaper (what’s up with that, oh huge corporation with oodles of dollars to spend on the best of everything!!!!!?)

i survived whiny children.

i survived being the designated family pack mule.

…..and i loved every minute of it. 

Thank You God.

i’d like to share a little story about our trip that probably set the tone for my ‘carefree’ approach to conquering all those demons above:

Our flight down to FL was my first since coming back from our honeymoon in 1992.  Have i mentioned that i hate to fly?  So, the plane takes off without much fanfare or difficulty and procedes rather smoothly down the east coast.  Once we got above the clouds it was a gorgeous morning – very bright.  The kids were having a ball on their first plane ride ever!   #4 had a little issue trying to get her ears to pop, but for the most part it was exhillerating.

i don’t know, maybe somewhere over VA i’m looking out the window over the laps of #4 and #3 and i see this plane coming STRAIGHT AT US!!!  Same altitude and everything!  It blows through our wake and i’m starting to FREAK!!  i call a stewardess (add an -es to that word and it’s the longest lefthand word on the keyboard, BTW) over with my best index finger curl and look of angry dread i can muster given that my instinct is telling me to run up and down the aisles screaming like a girl!!   i whisper to her rather sternly, “Umm, i just saw a plane come really close to us, can you ask someone who’d know if we just had a near-miss…please?”

“Are you a pilot, sir?”

(i should have said ‘yes’ or something official sounding) “No.”

“Sir, how close do you think it came?”

“Oh, about 1000 feet.”

“Sometimes they look alot closer than they actually are, sir.”

“Umm, i think the pilot waved to me.”

“I’ll go check.”

10 minutes later……..

“Sir, (exuberrantly) guess how close that plane really was!”

“Ah, (back peddling a bit) 2000 feet maybe?”

“Exactly 1000 feet!   Definitely legal distance!”

Forget the fact that i felt like slapping her for her dismissive tone.  She probably would have told me ‘1000 feet’ no matter how close we came.  If the windows opened i might have been able to score some Grey Poupon!   Besides, who gives a rats rectum what the ‘legal’ distance is?   i don’t care what the prosecutorial limits of flight proximity are, i simply don’t want any planes near mine while careening through the air at 500 mph!!!!!   Is that too much to ask!?!  

i survived.

and i have a story to tell.

what fun.