Remember last summer? I decided early on that I wanted to make the most of our gorgeous Colorado summer months and do things. So we did. All kinds of events and ideas were penciled in on our calendar, and week by week, as we did them, we checked them off our list. It was wonderful. Doing takes planning, and planning takes effort. If you never plan, you never do. That was the lesson of Moore Summer 2011. :-)
A couple of months ago, in April, Ryan asked if I thought we could make a trip to Yellowstone work this year. He has wanted to do this for a long time; we have such amazing memories of going there when we lived in Montana, and Ryley would absolutely love it. So we looked at the money situation and what it would require, and we decided that the only way we could afford it was if we pinched every single penny for two months and then camped. But a plan was a plan! We requested the vacation time and began to live as frugally as we could. The excitement was building.
I also started trying to plan other things for the summer too…like our garage sale, which we’ve wanted to do for the last five years. I scheduled that for May 19 and began to envision the squeaky clean garage that we would have all summer long after either selling or donating everything in it. I looked up children’s theater dates and times and penciled in shows (not because we were going for sure, but so that we wouldn’t forget they were happening). I looked up our city calendar of events and penciled more things in. But then I started to stress out a little bit.
There’s not enough weekends for the list of things I want to do this summer!!!! Oh no!
But then things started happening to show me that I’m not really the one in control. Ryan had to work a special event on May 19, so we rescheduled our garage sale for June 9. Then, we needed to go to a memorial service on June 9, so we rescheduled the garage sale for June 30.
Then last week, Ryan’s dad got sick and needed an emergency triple bypass surgery on his heart. It all happened so suddenly, and there was no time for Ryan to fly to Florida before the procedure. Even though it was risky, we were all pretty confident that Ron would come through it okay. We kept thinking that of course we could continue with our plans to go camping in Yellowstone; the trip was scheduled a full week and a half after the surgery, after all, and he would be recovered and headed home to take it easy by that time.
Except that he didn’t really wake up after surgery. And he still hasn’t woken up, a week and a half later.
Even through last weekend, we were completely planning on the trip. Maybe we were in denial as to how serious the situation was. Going to Yellowstone was a sign that everything was all right with Ryan’s dad. So we set up our tent in the backyard to air it out, and we started a “Yellowstone pile” in our living room, where we began tossing flashlights, binoculars, batteries, sleeping bags, etc., as we came across them.
But by Monday night, we were slowly realizing that it wasn’t all right. It was far from all right.
By Tuesday, it was a pretty clear-cut decision. Ryan needed to go to Florida to be with his dad, stepmom, and family. With a heavy heart, I called and canceled our camping reservation and the dog-boarding reservation. I moved all our camping gear back into the extremely stuffed garage and vacuumed up the grime it left on our living room floor. I did it while Ryan was at work, so as to lessen the amount of pressure and stress he was under.
Yellowstone will always be there. Ryan’s dad will not.
Ryley was extremely disappointed.
“I am sad about Grandpa, I am sad about Daddy leaving, and I am sad about Yellowstone! Look at that picture of our family…We were so happy then!” she wailed.
So melodramatic.
Even tonight, she asked, “So if we had gone to Yellowstone today like we planned, would we be to our campsite yet?” She wasn’t mourning the loss of the trip; she was just matter-of-fact about it.
I looked at the clock. “Yes, I guess so. But Daddy’s where he’s supposed to be right now.”
“I know,” she answered. And she does know. She loves her grandpa so very much.
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
My aunt asked me today is the garage sale is still on for next weekend. I laughed. :-) I don’t think we’ll be making “plans” for awhile. I think God is using these situations to teach me to relax a little bit and do things in His timeline, not mine.
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Here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks:
Ryley and Amirah camped out in the backyard.
On Saturday we went to Bass Pro, and there were all these free activities kids could participate in. Ryley was pretty psyched about archery.
Also, guns. That there is a Red Ryder BB gun. She is asking for a pink one for her birthday. Yeah, right. :-)
We kinda had some Father’s Day fun that day.
Ryley attended a basketball camp this week that her daycare lady took her to. She really enjoyed it, but she was discouraged because kids kept yelling stuff at her, and she felt like she was doing things wrong.
“What are they yelling?” I asked.
“Stuff like ‘traveling! Traveling!’ I don’t even know what that means.”
“Oh. Well, when you have the ball and you’re walking or running with it, you have to keep bouncing it. You can’t just carry it.”
“Oh!!!!!! That makes so much sense now!”
:-)
General silliness….
Last night, our first night Ryan was away, I decided to take Ryley to our suburb’s big band/swing concert in the park to get her mind off of everything…
We sat there and read for an hour together. It was really nice.
If you would, please continue to keep Ryan’s dad in prayer. We are praying that tomorrow (Saturday) will be the day he wakes up from his comatose state. He had a tracheotomy done today, which they are hopeful will help. Please keep his stepmom and sisters in prayer too, as they have spent the last 10 days down there, and it’s been very draining and stressful. They are all heading home tomorrow while Ryan stays.
Thank you bunches. :-) Nothing is impossible with God.
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