In My Search For Ordinary

In my search for ordinary, I have always found extra ordinary...

  All I wanted when I was little was an ordinary life.  I wanted to be part of a family that got along without much effort. I use to wish we didn't have so many opinions around the supper table at night.  I also wanted to attend a church where there was no fighting or bickering.  

I didn't want to be noticed in the way we were noticed when my dad was removed from the ministry for questionable actions.  I didn't want stickers and balloons and bubble gum when my parents were separated for a night or two while they worked out some issues in their marriage.  I didn't want that kind of care and loving actions shown by concerned aunts and uncles.  I didn't like people feeling sorry for us because our church split and our barn fell down on top of some of our  cows while we attended church one Sunday morning.

I wanted to feel ordinary.  I wished the people would just pretend none of it was even happening.  I wanted to keep the same group of friends in my classroom just like it had been since first grade. Instead, by the time I had hit the fifth grade there was only one girlfriend left in my classroom and the only other person in my grade was a boy.

Ordinary people did things...with other people.  Other kids had a youth group and knew how to play volleyball, and skate and ski.  They even knew what to talk about if they did get together.  Ordinary girls knew how to talk to boys that weren't their cousins.

But because of my lack of ordinary, I learned about true friendship and loyalty at an early age.  I found out about family ups and downs and commitment too because I was involved in those things.  I found out that marriage is work and that relationships matter more than anything else.  

Without a youth group I had time to study and read.  I learned to work and enjoy it.  Libraries everywhere are high on my list of importance because of my little hometown's library and because my mom had a literary mind.

  Because I had no youth group or many friends I was forced to be friendly and interested in other people.  I attended Marantha Bible School four years in a row, to study mainly.  I made a few friends of course, but was pretty cautious about forging deep friendships because of how fleeting they tended to be.  I saw boys I liked but detested flirting from watching more of it than I could hack in my growing up years. When kids resort to flirting with cousins for lack of something better to do...well, you get the picture.

Anyway, as life would have it, I lost my heart to a not ordinary at all guy during one of those years in Bible School.  Maybe I finally realized I liked the extraordinary life I had been blessed with.  Or maybe I was starting to see that things had turned out to be a blessing in disguise and that God was determined to show me extraordinary in spite of myself. 

So, God gave me Bruce.  Not one day has been ordinary since.  Since I married this man almost twenty years ago, there has not been one dull ordinary day...I said it twice on purpose; at the end of every day I am exhausted from trying to keep up. 

  I am also sure this man is exactly what I needed to be drawn out of myself, from becoming an island unto myself. Bruce makes me walk when I feel I can only crawl.  He does this by being himself and not noticing when I am lagging behind.  He does this quite naturally, although sometimes I am sure he is snickering at me into his shirt sleeves.

In February we will have our 20th wedding anniversary.  In November, Bruce will turn 40.  I did back in January.  Guess where this is going?  What do you think an extraordinary guy who married a very ordinary girl would like to do to celebrate these occasions?

Here's the plan...This past year we bought a sail boat and learned to sail.  I didn't learn a ton honestly, but I did learn to enjoy it.  Again, trying to keep up with Bruce on a sail boat is a challenge.  Back to the plan...We are hoping to drive our SUV pulling our 26' Macgregor to the Sea of Cortez over Christmas vacation.

This will require enough food and water for about a week on board our little boat.  I sometimes think we're crazy.  I sometimes know we are.  Even so we are both super excited about it. How much more romantic can a guy plan?  

Meanwhile, I worry about the kids.  They will be fine.  But I feel guilty...It's Christmas...But they will be fine...They are looking forward to watching endless movies, to hanging out with the cousins and family, to maybe going skiing, to eating pizza and ice cream everyday.  They are even making a list of things they want to do while we are gone.

Now, all I have to do is catch up to the idea and find out how extra ordinary I can make this...Even if the car breaks down...Even if the Sea is stormy and windy and I spend the whole time rolling around the cabin trying not to barf...Most probably it'll be sunshine and roses...Or shrimp and lemon butter...You can help us pray about this trip...Praying is how we plan and vise versa...