Taking a Day Off

Today actually started yesterday evening. Last night after Bible study, my husband and I made an 8 pm trip to Home Depot. I knew this was a bad idea because bath time starts at 8:15. But I really didn’t want to make a trip today.

So, Doug and I stood with our two buggies blocking the aisle, hurriedly trying to figure out the differences among a row-full of light bulbs. Less than a minute of standing still, the twins started growing louder in their fussing while the three-year-old exploded with persistent defiance that landed him a seat in the buggy, too.

By the time the customer service lady brought three balloons to place around small wrists, my husband and I were even grumbling at each other and at our capitalistic economy that gave us 50+ choices in light bulbs. Honestly!

On the ride home, the children did everything but pop the balloons. They screamed and cried when the latex globes floated beyond arm’s reach. They relished in making horrible blackboard-esque squeaks by squeezing the balloons too tightly. I seriously considered getting out my Swiss Army knife and putting an end to the misery. Then, I had a thought.

“Wyatt, do you want to send your balloons up to God? I bet He likes them as much as you do. We could send them up to heaven to tell Him thank you for today’s rain.”

I expected at least some disagreement, but no.

Wyatt happily released each one in turn. One, two, three red and blue ovals with white strings waving beneath them as they rose into the darkness and disappeared. With each balloon, he and I spoke aloud our thank you’s to God—for the rain, the stars, the moon, the leaves, the new house.

Then and there, I realized we needed some time off because I haven’t been feeling too thankful this past week. I’ve been burdened with too much of the unexpected, escalating my stress level and making my children seem intolerable most of the time.

Early this morning, we took off for a trip to the zoo. Once there, I couldn’t help but enjoy Wyatt’s excitement over seeing the elephants, alligators, ambling tortoises, baby golden monkeys, and (my favorite) the buffalo chasing the wild turkeys. I relished in watching the twins’ speechless awe over the parrots, monkeys, and tigers separated from them by a mere sheet of plexiglas—the animals from their story books come to life.

It was hot; we were sweaty; and all three were cranky by the time we left. But for a couple hours, we escaped the house-building-course-creating-software-training-endless-packing world…and it was good.