It was plenty of time for me to wash and fold laundry, buy some groceries, plan out the meals we'd eat in and find my almost red-headed son a long sleeve swim shirt. It also gave me time to find a new bathing suit. The ones I'd been wearing both came from the pre-baby period of my life. They fit very differently now, one being much too low for comfort and the other much too revealing. Yep, my bikini days are over.
It was to be our first little trip away just the four of us without any friends or babysitters to help out with the kids. We didn't know how it would work out, but for the most part it was great- restful, playful, memorable. Thanks to kind friends who helped with our wonderful accommodations and provided us with a golf cart, it really couldn't have been a better weekend.
When we go on vacation, Tony wants to eat out every night. Personally, I'd rather eat out only half the nights, but this short trip I just went with it. One of the best places to eat in Destin is Dewey Destins. It has a small, fresh, delicious menu and a laid back, on the water atmosphere. In the four nights we were in Florida, we ate there twice. It's that good.
After gobbling down our blackened sea bass, we took the kids down to the dock to look at the boats and see the fish they were unloading from the days catch. First we watched them fillet a fish and then walked down to the other end of the dock to see them unloading some big fish. It was crowded down at that end with people loading coolers with fresh fish and measuring their catches to see whose was bigger.
A blue streak. That is all that I saw as a small boy plunged into the water between the dock and the fishing boat. Terror in an inexplicably long split second. A mad scramble of people rushing, leaning, reaching for this little boy. I feel panic rise in my throat, a worst nightmare right before my eyes. The scream of the boy's mother, calling his name in a high pitched siren wail. It felt like minutes, but within seconds the boy was being pulled from the water, dripping, eyes wide. He saw his mother and started to cry. So did I. Then I picked up my own small boy and hurried off the dock. I couldn't hold him tight enough to still the shaking in my soul, a long split second is all the time necessary to lose something more precious to me than my own life.
After that experience at the dock, I felt shaken to my core. A fun evening out, could have ended at the morgue. It wasn't the sunshine and sandy beaches takeaway memory from our vacation I was expecting. How thankful I am to know that God is watching over us. A God so big He can be everywhere at once. A God so great He can create a world with a dazzling display of variety and brilliance. A God so loving, He cares when my sweet little boy falls and scrapes his knee. Or when a small boy falls off a dock and into the murky depths of the sea.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
outside your Father’s care.
Matthew 10:29
If this doesn't soothe your soul, comfort your heart, still the shaking, then lets talk.
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