When was the last time that you heard yourself laugh? I mean
really laugh. Laughing so hard that you
could hear your own voice ringing in your ears.
Well yesterday was just that kind of day for me. However, I must give you the backdrop of the
story. To just rush in and tell you the story would be a
disservice.
Earlier this week, my husband and sons arrived home to find water
running out of the garage and flowing down our driveway, which was already
covered in snow from the latest snowstorm.
We immediately turned off the water for the night. A pipe had burst
behind the hot water tank in the garage.
First night in the home without running water. Nothing could be done
until the next morning, so we’d have to stick it out for the night. For people
who say bottled water is wasteful, I say you’ve never been without running
water. We drank bottled water when we
were thirsty and boiled the bottled water to wash up for the evening and the
next morning. Well we survived but my
husband’s mind was fixated on staying the next night at the hotel, if the
problem persisted. While we were at
school and work, the broken pipe was being replaced. However later that evening, we were informed
that there was another leak somewhere in the wall behind the shower. What? Are you kidding me? Mr. Coleman made the executive decision that
we were moving into a hotel. That’s just the beginning of the story though.
We checked into the hotel, allowing the boys to get settled in,
while we ran back to the house to pack for the night and to get clothes to
wash, because the boys had no clean uniforms for the week. No, I’m
not laughing yet!
When we returned to the standard hotel room, equipped with 2
queen beds and a pullout sofa, I began to get the boys ready for bed. First
one in the shower, please step up! I
began to unpack and get things situated when I noticed something black on the
floor, at the base of the window curtains.
I pulled back the curtains and kicked the object, which I initially
thought was a sock that the boys had thrown there. Boy am I glad that I kicked the object and
not picked it up with my hands. I’m not
laughing yet, but you might holler when I tell you what it was…it was a pair of
dirty underwear.
What in the world?!!!
Underwear on the floor, yet we were all still fully dressed. I immediately called down to the front desk
personnel, who was so apologetic and decided to move us immediately. We moved just 4 doors down to a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom
suite. Okay, so I might be chuckling a little by now because God really has
jokes. I almost forgot to mention that the new room would be complimentary
for our inconvenience. THANKYA! Okay,
so things aren’t looking that badly right about now.
Now to the story…
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast provided by the hotel
and got the boys off to school. My
husband and I went back to the hotel and waited until the afternoon, when we’d
meet the plumber back at the house. In
the meantime, we went to the exercise room and then decided to go swimming. Now
this is where my laughter began.
This pool was totally kid friendly.
On one end of the pool it was only 1 foot deep, where a toddler could
play with the hoses and water spouts. It
had a rainfall apparatus shaped like a mushroom, where the water ran off the
top of the tall mushroom, back into the pool.
On the deepest end, which was 4 feet tall, was a basketball hoop. So here is my husband, in the wading pool,
lying under the mushroom so the water could pound on his back, looking like a
whale that had been washed up on the shore. And I was by the basketball hoop,
doing slam-dunks, as if I were a star player for the WNBA. We were two big kids, laughing and playing
like we were 5 and 6 year olds. What a time!
I could hear my laughter echoing in the room and it was music to my
ears.
But the music didn’t stop there…
I picked the boys up from school, while my husband went to
prepare for Bible study. The boys ate
pizza in the lobby of the hotel as they completed their homework. Not a care in the world, because we had
promised that they could go swimming once their work was completed.
Within 2 hours, the three of us were in the pool. After only a short amount of time, I heard it
again. As I watched my darling sons
enjoying each other’s company, without a care in the world, on a school night,
I began to hear the bellowing sounds of laughter. My boys were laughing at me and I was laughing hysterically as I missed one basketball shot after another. We laughed TOGETHER and it felt so good.
It felt good to let down my inhibitions and just have fun.
It felt good to not be the stern mommy who would make them
go to the room and get ready for bed.
It felt good to just let them have pizza, while they worked.
(No veggies in sight.)
It felt good to see them forget how much they can annoy each
other and just have fun playing together.
It felt good to sit down in the lobby and eat the food that
my husband brought after Bible study….
Mind you, it’s now after 9 pm on a school night.
It felt good to hear the boys say, “thanks Mom and Dad, this
was fun”.
Sometimes your greatest laughter comes when you let down
your guard and allow yourself to be a child again. But even greater than that is the gift that
you can give your children to hear you laugh like them. What a blessing it is for them to realize
that parents are human, funny, silly and trustworthy all wrapped up in one.
What did I give my
children today?
I gave them the lesson that even when things don’t go
exactly as planned that God can still use that situation to make you smile.
I showed them how to trust God and (when I didn’t lose my
cool about the underwear in the room) He gave us an even better room...for
FREE.
I gave them the joy of experiencing laughing with and at
their Mommy.
If you have a child, niece, nephew, family friend or
neighbor…. take them out to play, let yourself go and just LAUGH until you hear
the sounds of laughter ringing in your own ears.
Now walk it out…
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