Last summer our family of 4 took a vacation to Costa Rica. It was the best vacation we have ever taken as a family. We rafted the Pacuare River, which was death defying. This river boasts being one of the 3 most beautiful rivers in the world, with level 5 rapids and waterfalls and monkeys along the way. My children could not have been happier when I flipped out of the raft backwards and went under the boat, needing to be rescued by my 18 year old son. They laughed the entire way through this rafting trip which ended with us floating down the river to a beach for a beautifully prepared lunch of avocados and pineapple. The trip continued with visits to volcanoes and rainforests, surfing beaches and deep sea fishing.
Ever since this trip, I have been thinking about how I could ever top this trip. What’s the next place I can take them, that would be as beautiful and as fun? How can I recreate the wonderful positive energy we had as a family during this trip? Where? When?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have found myself grateful that we were even able to take such a trip. I have been finding myself grateful that we have the memories of that time. I have found myself thinking of all of the other experiences that I have had with my family, and unpacking the memories of those times together. I’ve been wondering if I didn’t truly appreciate what we had until we didn’t have it.
Pico Iyer, a travel writer and philosopher, speaks of a wonderful trip he took to South Korea decades ago. He says that he has been unpacking what he learned on that trip for 30 plus years. He explains that he has actually learned the most from staying home. I wonder what we can learn about our experiences thus far from staying home and not from thinking of how we will top our last vacation or experience?
Here
is Pico Iyer’s Ted Talk.
A prayer for today:
God of Stillness, be with us in this new adventure that we find ourselves in. As we stand together in this mystery may our connection to each other be one that is instilled with your light and your love, with curiosity and strength. May we not strive so much to correct what has gone wrong, as to wake up to all of the opportunities that are before us. Opportunities for kindness and generosity, opportunities for uncovering that which we have forgotten and that which will bring us closer to who we are called to be.
Amen
.
