One Big Family
Maybe I am just a bit biased, or maybe I am totally off base, but I don't think so. To end our church service yesterday the pastor led us in singing "In Christ Alone". While singing it, I was brought right back to the DMC. I was surrounded by my closest friends and all around me people were worshipping, truly worshipping. There were 3000 people singing in unison one beautiful chorus, one big family. Memories flooded my mind after the service...evenings spent in the dorms doing crazy things, weekend trips to Dayton or Cinci, dinners at fun restaurants, even fun classes. My father asked me the other day if now that my college experience is over and I have whatever debt for it, if I still thought that going to that private college was a good choice. Without hesitation, I was able to look him squarely in the eye and emphatically say, "Absolutely...worth every single penny." Those four years were some of the best of my life. I find it so interesting that even now, after I have been away from there for almost four years, when I speak to someone else who went there or find some new Cedarville friend online...it is almost as if we knew one another, and for the most part, it is not difficult to develop a friendship. Perhaps it is shared common experiences from our past, or perhaps it is a bond in the family of Christ, or maybe both...whatever it is, I find myself so thankful for the opportunity that I had to attend Cedarville, to be a part of the family, to meet my best friends, my husband, and now to have the opportunity to develop friendships with you; all because of that little school in the cornfields of Ohio.
Along the lines of reminiscing, yesterday we went to my grandfather's 84th birthday party. While there, my grandma gave me her diary of a trip we took with her to Florida in 1998. After we got home last night and Landon was in bed, I was able to sit on the couch and peel back the pages of time. Reading her notes was like being there again. I could smell the fresh air, and I could feel the relaxation that vacation brought. I believe that was the last vacation that we took just my mom and dad and my little sister (who was only 9 at the time) and my grandma. Before that, we did it every year, but I think that was the last...because the next year brought my college transition. Anyway, Brenn was 9 again and doing all of the silly things 9 year olds do. She wasn't anxious about anything or having to deal with adolescent concerns. Grandma was healthy. My parents were the same...in every way trying to make the vacation as wonderful as they could for us. I want to read it again and again. I love my life now, but sometimes it is so nice to get lost in a memory.
Suffice to say that I am so thankful that the Lord allows us to create memories of wonderful times and places. I realize that some memories bring pain, but sometimes even those bring a sense of relief...because for a brief moment we can stop the numbing mundacity of life and just feel something. I realize that 10 years from now I will look back on journals from now and remember with fondness these days of toddlerhood, and welcoming a new baby into the family. Every day has the potential for some memory to be made. I want to cherish the time I have now because I realize how fast it goes, and before blinking an eye we find ourselves in a new stage of life. Our baby is in school, our oldest in high school, college...getting married, having grandbabies. Life is a sweet, sweet journey. I just wish that I could learn the secret to savoring each moment.
Well, play-do is flying around the room behind me and Landon's snow pants are sitting in my laundry room full of pee from an accident he had while he was outside playing having too much fun to come in and use the toilet. Guess it is back to life for me...my NOW life. Someday, I bet that I will come across some play-do and the smell of it will remind me of my three year old Landon, and I will revel in the memory...if only for a moment.
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