Kayak Therapy

Dad was trying to be nice.

He called me on Monday from Mammoth Lakes, where my whole family, sans ME, is vacationing. We love it up there. In the summer, Mom and Dad are crazy generous and rent a too-huge condo and let Michael's family and Liann and me, and anyone else we want to bring, come up and just enjoy. We hike, fish, golf, kayak, swim, eat out at nummy-nummy places, play games in the evenings, and just stare at the beauty of that place and enjoy the cool and the rains when they come.

Needless to say, I am super bummed I can't be there this year. I love kayaking and eating. Not at the same time, exactly, but there's a lot of those two activities in Mammoth.

So Dad's phone call Monday was nice. Sorta.

He called to tell me that he was fishing, and Denver and Poncho were seeing how much mud they could stir up along the shallow water of the lake, and Mom was snapping pictures all over the place. Everyone was having a lovely time. He told me it was all so cute, and this way, when I eventually saw the pictures, I would know just when they were taken.

I expressed much joy for them, despite the fact that I was in my office cubicle, looking forward to another meeting. Sigh.

But guess who kayaked that night?! Ha--me! That's right; God sent my friends Kevin and Wendy and their giggly-cute baby girl up from So Cal, to Kevin's parents' stunning home on a private lake, just so they could invite me over for dinner and kayaking and swimming, just so I could feel better!

Okay, maybe they didn't come up just for that. It could be that Kevin and Wendy love Kevin's folks, and that Kevin's family has a long history of outdoor fun, great conversation, and warm hospitality.

Of it could just be me :)

It was wonderful. Delicious dinner, raspberry margaritas, good laughter, a rice cereal-coated baby, ducks and geese, blueberry dessert, coffee that we think was decaf (I slept fine!), and catching up with one another. Kevin's folks were very kind well over a year ago to spend some time with me in Redlands before the move, reassuring me of the joys of living in Southwestern Idaho.

They were right on the mark! And it was a special blessing for me to spend the evening with them again, and a huge treat to get to see Kevin and Wendy and meet Miss Super Cutie. Plus, as Wendy pointed out, there were probably scenes I never imagined when Kevin and I were taking square dancing lessons many years ago--among them being Kevin trying to keep rice cereal inside his baby daughter rather than on her, and the fact that the slightest bit of baby drool sends him clambering for a cloth to wipe it up :) Who knew?

So, I am grateful to God for sending the first wave of intervention--thanks!

Wave #2 happened tonight with my buddy Arnila, and involved the first half of Anne of Green Gables and great talk about the ills of the world. "Great" as in how to cope with the ills and where God is in all things--not "great" as in ills are good.

Wave #3 will hopefully happen in Portland next weekend! Sweet!