Vacation

Just got back…
from
vacation.

It was only a few days,
but the road was long.

Not in distance or traffic.
In memories.

We went camping near the little town we spent our honeymoon in.

We smiled at each other and pointed out the hotel.

Room with a view of the ocean!
I winked at my spouse.

“Yeah, if you stuck your head out the window and leaned  to one side, then you could see the ocean.”

The kids giggled.

We ate at our favorite restaurant.

Told stories of the different dates we had there.

We were sad to see our favorite Antique Store a Café.

Visited the shop where we bought our first “together” house decoration.

Smiled at the kids reaction to watching us walk memory lane.

It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me how all this came about.

My husband and I had promised to take the kids camping all summer.

We even had a trip planned with my sister and family that had to be canceled.

“Honey, we have to go camping. I think we should see if our friends want to go. I really don’t have time to deal with the details.”

I made a face, shook my head and related the busy schedule I had that week.

So he called our friends and they picked the spot and made the reservation but couldn’t come till Saturday.

So without knowing it our friends were the ones who made it possible for us to relive some memories.

Yesterday we all visited a church in that little town.

We had been invited by a street musician whose voice had caused us to stop and listen. (Really gifted!)

After church we received directions to the beach. (Which turned out to be cold and seriously windy as only Oregon Coast can.)

My husband stopped and handed his phone to our oldest.

“Take a picture of us.”

Then we smiled for the camera.
Kissed.
Walked on.

I explained to our friends that we had a picture of ourselves at this same beach almost 17 years ago.

The drive home was when the bigger picture came into view.

This wasn’t an accident.

God had been there every step of the way-

Not just in our vacation with friends,

but in our lives, our marriage, our home.

“The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want. ” Ps.23:1