Cheezits, Dolphins and a 50 Foot Drop...


It's the end of day 3 of our 4 day vacation...just my mom and I. We just returned from about 5 hours of thrift shopping and bargain hunting all over Fort Myers in our friends' convertible. I have to say, we looked pretty good in that convertible! I am exhausted tonight. I guess because I got burned a little on the beach, and we have once again packed in about 12-15 miles of biking, shopped till we dropped, and have filled every second of our time together with fun. I had to blog tonight to share this funny anecdote that I am sure will make all of you smile.

So, we are biking to Fort Myers beach this morning, fully loaded with everything we need for the day on our bikes. Two beach chairs, a lunch, a backpack, iced coffee, iced tea, towels and sunscreen (I totally should have gotten a picture, because that description doesn't do justice to how ridiculous we look!). We get to this huge bridge, which has a big fat sign that says "Walk Bikes on Bridge." As part of our routine, we walk our bikes up to the top of the bridge, pause to catch our breath and drink water (you really don't know how exhausting "walking" a bike is until you try it), and then coast down to the bottom. Coasting, as my mom has modeled for me is not really "riding" your bike per say...it's just gliding. I think that is her way of being rebellious in this world...coasting down the "non-biker" bridge!

Anyway, we get to the top, and we start to see a bunch of dolphins down below in the water. Mind you, we are at least 50 feet up on this bridge, and the wind is whipping at about 25 mph. My mom starts to yell..."Quick! Throw something down to them. Let's try to throw some mango, or a cheezit (because that is what dolphins eat you know:)). I said, "Mom...what do you think is going to happen when you throw a cheezit down there in the wind? It's gonna blow right back up in your face. Besides the fact, I am pretty sure dolphins don't eat cheezits." But you know my Mom. She gets an idea and follows through until the end. As soon as the wind died down, or so she says it did, she throws the cheezit down and is super disappointed that the dolphins don't eat it. I'm not even sure the cheezit ever made it down there, but it was pretty hilarious watching her try.

She says to me as we are "gliding" down the bridge, "At least my grand kids will know I am going to always show them a crazy good time!" Yeah...crazy is spot on. I just read this entry to my mom and she said, "You usually have some kind of application or something to think about when you blog." I am not really sure how to follow up that story other than to say this. Tonight, I am thankful for the little things in life that make me laugh, and I am thankful for family to share in that with. I am sure someday my kids to come with be blogging ridiculous stories about me as their mom, after all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Donut Story

Image
When I was about five years into being a Youth Pastor, I met a group of kids that changed my life.  Many of you reading this, who know me personally, have probably heard me talk about them numerous times.  Nate and I happened to live in the parsonage next door to the church I was serving at at the time, and would routinely come home to a group of boys that I would have described then as "rough around the edges."   They dressed mostly in black, had long hair, and sometimes even had black painted fingernails.  They loved to smoke, and they loved to skateboard.  After a few days of watching them through our window, Nate and I went outside and brought them some sodas.  We introduced ourselves, told them I was the Youth Pastor at the church, and invited them to come to youth group.  While they politely declined our invitation, we continued to invite them over and over again, attempted to skate with them, and fill them with snacks.  Until one day, ...
Read more

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and...
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said someth...
Read more