A Change in Plans

Well it ended with a little excitement. And I learned, again, I should listen to my son. He has always had good intuition and insight. Premonition you might call it, but he has always had it and I should have listened.

When we got up yesterday Houston felt that we should head home, skip the zoo; do it another time. Although I was tired and was ready to go home, I thought he was being a pisspot and just didn’t want to go to the zoo. The indignant grandma looking at her son who is depriving his son of a trip to the zoo. It was a short lived “argument” (it wasn’t really an argument) Houston relented and we had breakfast and headed to the zoo about 10ish. We had decided to wait until rush hour had ended so we could miss most of the traffic, at least that was the plan. And like all plans, this one was subject to change, big time. We headed to the zoo which is down the I-5, to the I-405 to the 26W which is always backed up and is uphill. It was stop and go traffic. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. In an older Jeep Cherokee with an older clutch and a propensity (which we didn’t know about) to overheat…so about an hour later…

It was miserable. Why was there so much traffic to the stinkin’ zoo on a Tuesday morning??? Well, when we were finally getting into the parking areas, our vehicle died completely, it was already smelling warm, and it died. Crap. So Houston and Elena jumped out, I got in the driver seat, and they PUSHED a Jeep Cherokee UPHILL for about 30 feet to get it into a 20 minute parking space. Amazing what adrenaline can do.

Anyway, a zoo “official” came to speak to us, and we were informed all the lots were full (so we wouldn’t have been able to park anyway) and apparently the second Tuesday is $4 zoo day and the zoo becomes a zoo. They were turning people away and telling them to try again later. Meanwhile, we have a dead car, traffic everywhere and are in a 20 minute parking space.

So, I did what any strong woman does…call her daddy. Yup. That’s what I did. Called dad. Got advice. We called a tow truck, got the address of the nearest Jeep dealership and started the process of waiting. In the meantime dad did some thinking and he told me that he had a friend in his younger days that he used to four-wheel with and he had a Jeep Cherokee and it used to vapor lock all the time. Once it sat for awhile, it would start fine. So, we waited and sure enough, about 45 minutes later the car started. We canceled the tow truck ($40 cancellation fee…not bad!) and got the heck out of dodge! As we were leaving, the zoo officials cleared us a path so we wouldn’t have to stop and go again and we had a straight shot out of the parking lot and to the DOWNHILL portion of highway 26.

So we didn’t get to see the zoo. That’s okay. We will save it for another trip. We stopped at Multnomah Falls and spent some time there and then again at Spookys for pizza to break up the trip for Jessie, and a great time was had by all. Jessie loved the falls and liked the water in the stream even better. And he was such a great little boy for the trip and all its little issues. He had one meltdown, which at the end of a vacation is to be expected. Again, my perfect little boy. I know I say it – but it’s true!!!!

I waited to hit a wall that luckily didn’t come until after I got home. I was SO tired last night I could barely move and again this morning I feel like my body weighs 500 pounds, which is better than the 1000 pounds it usually feels like when I hit my walls! I’m going to take it easy today, walk the dogs with the grandparentals while Durashine cleans my house, stop by the grocery store, and tonight I have a hot date at the soccer field for YMCA 3-year old soccer match with Mike’s granddaughter, Lilly. I can’t wait. We went last week too and it is so much fun to watch them run and play. I can’t wait to put Jessie into sporting activities!

So, I had a wonderful time. I thank God for giving me these moments, these experiences and memories, good and bad. Because that is what life is made up of, both. We can’t experience the good without experiencing the not so good. And if all experiences were good, how would we even know if there wasn’t a little shadow in the sunlight? And each time something challenging happens, it makes us appreciate the happy a little more, makes us see the sunlight a little brighter and helps us to see each other a little clearer. For I think that our true personality and fortitude comes out during the challenging times. How do we handle adversity? How do we handle a fussy 2 year old and a broken down car? That’s when we should shine, when we step up to the plate and put on our big kid underwear and deal with it keeping our wits and our sense of humor and doing the best we can under the circumstances. During adversity; that is where we should shine.

So the next time you are faced with a challenging situation, think of how to be the light. Think of how to turn it into an experience to remember, instead of one you would rather forget. I’ll remember Jessie standing on the wall, taller than tall, towering over me, smiling and reaching out to me, ready to jump, ready to fly, completely unaware of anything wrong. That’s how I choose to remember our trip to the zoo.

How will you remember your next bout of adversity?