Death Valley
My dad used to love taking big family trips when school let out for the summer. We did it all . . . the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone National Park, Switzerland, France, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Cancun. Honestly I can’t remember all the places we went.
I think it was his way of trying to make up for being a “weekend dad.” He would try to cram a wholeheckuvalot of family togetherness into a teeny-tiny span of time. It was certainly an interesting experience.
I have one step-brother, a half-sister and half-brother from one marriage, a half-sister from a different marriage, and one full-sister. Did you get all that? Needless to say there were secret counsels and alliances, spies and double-agents among the brood (and of course me, the revolutionary). We tried to keep the state trooper searches and accidental bottom brandings to a minimum, but oh boy do we have memories.
One of the clearest is when we drove through Death Valley. When my dad announced we were almost there I pressed my nose up to the glass of our big brown van and waited. Death Valley . . . home of landlocked pirates and dancing gypsies. Or something like that.
Or nothing like that.
Although desolation is beautiful in it’s own way, Death Valley is a place you drive through, not to. Mile after mile the scene stayed the same until my eyes ached for change. A gas station, a grocery store . . . anything.
For awhile now I’ve been traveling through my own Death Valley of sorts. Not the Valley of the Shadow of Death, mind you. We’ve just been in a transitional season for a long time now. The two biggest things we’d like to see change in our circumstances is for Daniel not to have to commute two hours everyday to work (hello family time!) and for us to have a home we can really live in. Note: A 6 foot 2 in husband, pregnant wife and toddler in ONE queen-size bed is NOT roomy, but unfortunately we can’t fit a king in our current bedroom and we love co-sleeping.
We’ve been praying about and/or pursuing those changes for about two years now. To say it has been a long road is an understatement, and now that I am six and a half months pregnant I want to get through this desert like never before. Just to have a home, or my husband around more before this baby is born would be a huge relief to me. But unlike the actual Death Valley, we have no idea how big this desert it or when we will get to the other side.
We’ve left a lot of things behind in this valley. Things that were just too burdensome to carry in a land with little refreshment: unforgiveness, pride, and selfish ambition to name a few. Not to say that we are free of those things . . . we’ve just unburdened ourselves from what we could.
Yesterday, we found a little oasis . . . a little time enjoying the sunshine at a local waterpark while NOT thinking about homes/careers/upcoming big decisions. It was bliss.
I can’t say that I’m looking forward to trekking out of this valley, but I am refreshed and feeling hopeful. And I love my little family.
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