Vacation – Part One

  In effect, our vacation can be divided into three parts. The first part of our vacation was the time we spent with my family. It was a time of rest and renewal. Probably due to a number of sick people on the plane, soon after arriving I had a cold/sinus infection, as you can see from my very red nose! It didn’t keep me down, though, and I was able to enjoy a good time shopping, eating, talking, and visiting.

Mom’s home is quiet and it gave both of us a chance to just “wind down” and read and sleep and just “be”.

Something that I enjoyed was being able to celebrate my mother’s and my nephew’s birthday with them. I can’t remember when I’ve been with Mom on her birthday and I don’t think I’ve ever been with my nephew on his. It was memorable as he turned 30!

There was lots of laughter and jokes, and we especially enjoyed the scene of João “fighting” with his “mother-in-law” over the proverbial broomstick that all mother-in-laws use to visit their daughters.

Although I had wanted to do sight-seeing and museum visits while there, it just seems like there was never enough time or energy. Somehow a kind of collective lethargy settled in over us. 

It didn’t help that it was SOOOO hot. Man, I don’t ever remember such a hot summer ever. It’s enough that I have to hot here in  Rio, I don’t want to go to the US and be hot too. We did make it over to the Creation Museum, mostly out of my curiosity. I found it somewhat disappointing, as with all the hype surrounding it, I thought it would be more creative. There were a few good things – like this door that represented the world after sin entered it and the beautiful outdoor gardens.

Despite our laziness, I was able to make it to the gym most days, with my Carol. While she did her aqua-fitness, I was able to work on the weights and treadmill. It was good for me to keep up a bit with my fitness. At least I didn’t turn to total mush. 

In the middle of our time at Mother’s and Carol’s we drove up to visit Jeri for a few days. If you look hard, you can find Jeri and I in the crowd where,  on our first night there we went to an outdoor concert, with a John Denver “songbook”. It was so much fun to hear the music, watch the crowds, eat and just “sing-along” with the songs of my youth. I was surprised at how many young people were there at the concert and actually singing along! While in Indy we had time to do some serious shopping as well and I was able to find some of the clothes I had been looking for. The too few days there flew by far too quickly, but I felt like we had quality time with Jeri and Megan.

It was interesting to celebrate the 4th of July in the US again. It’s been a long time (make that 18 years) and I had forgotten how much people get into that. I even got myself one of the flag tee shirts. Fireworks were everywhere and we set up our chairs outside, but I didn’t know where to crane my neck as there were so many it was hard to take them all in. The whole neighborhood was smoky by the end of the night. I guess there’s a kid in all of us, for I do so love fireworks.

Something I always look forward to while in the US is a visit to different churches. I must confess with my “traditional” view of worship, it’s not all that easy to find somewhere I might actually be able to worship, without having to put earplugs in. What is the deal with “monolithic” worship in the US? Does everyone have to be just alike? Is worship just for the 20-40 years old? I do like chorus’, but so many are just bad music and sloppy theology (and may I hasten to add the same is true of a great number of hymns). Why does it seem like worship is just thrown together to make us all happy, happy, happy? UGH! OK, all grumpiness set aside, I had some wonderful worship experiences. We usually visit 2nd Presbyterian in Indianapolis and their worship didn’t disappoint us. One Sunday we drove over to Walnut St. in Louisville. Although I lived so close when in seminary, I never attended there. I was thoroughly impressed with the beauty of the sanctuary (wow, stained glass windows in a Baptist church!) and well planned blended worship. They just don’t make churches like that anymore.  As a special treat, we were able to spend time with the music minister, who is a Brazilian and also drive out to see my Uncle Frank.

In addition to all else, while home I was able to do a little more work on the family genealogy. That can certainly be an all consuming task, so I do limit the time I spend working on that. I scanned in some photos and discovered this forgotten photo of Daddy as a child. Isn’t this a great shot? Can you see where my own gigantic forehead comes from?

My three weeks of rest and recreation rushed by. The last few days were colored by my upcoming commitment to get ready for travel to the Baptist World Alliance and my small presentation that I would make at the Women’s Department meeting. I had a hard time pulling the presentation together until my very last night, so that hung over me like a cloud. Finally, however, the first part of our vacation came to an end, when we left at dawn to head out to Honolulu. But that will be another installment on my essay on “What I did on my Summer Vacation”.