Took a little weekend trip recently to visit family, and had… sigh… the best time. Soul-filling. As time spent with family should be.
Of course, every step along the way I was inspired, too. It wasn’t just that we got to go somewhere warm after a very long, LONG winter… or that we got to have some rare time off… but that we got to spend time with people we love.
We did “touristy” things, which I actually enjoy doing a lot. I think it gets you to see the local sites and I always wonder why people shy away from doing these types of things. Years ago when I won a trip to NYC I wanted to do the touristy things, also, and I don’t regret spending time doing things like seeing the Statue of Liberty or the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.
We went to a local flea market at the start of the trip which suited me just fine, because I was in the market for a hat. Yes, ya’ll, I’m one of those people who walk around looking ridiculous with a large hat and sunglasses. I joked that I was incognito the whole time. (Hello fair skin!)
I envy all of you folks who tan. Seriously.
You see the blues in that water behind me? I found such inspiration in the colors there. How one side of the water would have more aqua and the other more green. I loved how the blues of the sky have different undertones than the blues of the water. These colors remind me of how diverse God’s creative touches are. They seem small but are profound, and if you look you see them everywhere.
The first night there we hung out with our family under a tiki hut. (This was before my hair got fully frazzled by the Florida humidity! LOL)
One of the things we did was visit lion country safari, where you drive through and the animals get up close and personal. Of course, I loved this, too! How amazing are things like zebras, where every single one is different? Just like us with our individual fingerprints, zebras each have different stripes. More of God’s creativity at work.
I was happy to drive through and just watch and take pictures… take it all in… I found the conversation in the car enjoyable and relaxing and recognized what a blessing it was to see this type of wildlife up close, something we certainly don’t get to do in the cold Midwest winter.
Before we left, there was a sign about feeding giraffes. What? Hello! I couldn’t contain myself. I was like a little kid, really giraffes? I love giraffes! Can I feed them? Can we go there? Can we can we can we?
LOL. Thankfully my family is very gracious and said sure, let’s do it. Off we went to feed the giraffes.
It’s handing lettuce to an animal. Really, that’s all… but I was bouncing up and down. I loved this so much. I yapped about it the entire time I did it and then again in the car and then the rest of the trip.
Yes, I was excited. I love these creatures!
They had such a gentle way about them. They were so calm and peaceful. They took the lettuce from my hand as gently as my little puppy takes a treat from me. I could have wrapped my arms around their neck and hugged them, but of course… they don’t let you do that. 
But looking at them eye to eye was inspiring and soul-filling.
We did lots of cool stuff on this trip, but the best part was simply hanging out with our family. When it was time to say goodbye, we boarded our plane, and I took inspiration in the blues of the sky, the whites of the clouds that dotted the landscape.
I looked to see what was playing on the in-flight movie, and….
Lo’ and behold, Loving Vincent was playing. I had high hopes for the plane ride home. I watched the entire movie but then….
LIFE.
Our plane got delayed. Connecting flight canceled. New flight delayed. New flight canceled.
It took us almost an entire day to get home. Our plane circled for hours, ran out of gas, had an unexpected landing… and then finally, we were let off and took a different airline home.
Ah… home….
Where our puppy welcomed us in and we were back to the cold Midwest winter again…. with dreams of Spring.
