The Boardwalk

“We are about half way there. We would always have CB radios and talk back and forth.”

My husband continues describing childhood memories as we drive our seven hours. Vacation week. Nostalgia. Returning to the place he vacationed for so many years. Where he fell in love with the ocean.

There is significance in this trip. For our 14 years of marriage, we have lived far from childhood homes. For Rob, his whole adult life, 20 some years, living where he is not from. There has been richness and growth in that journey. It has been our story that I would never trade.  But that is not what this post is about.

It is about the times we have driven past a hospital and a friend has said that is where I was born. That pool, my first swimming lessons. That restaurant, my first date. The places of history and continuity. The places where their life connects.

In these cities we have many beginnings. New chapters being birthed. But there are no homes where embarrassing stories are told. Not the Friendly’s ice cream of my youth where I would sit and talk for hours with girlfriends. Not the golf course where my husband got a hole in one as a teenager.

But now there is a twist in the plot. Through events we couldn’t have written, these last three years we find ourselves back in his homeland. Back where the Steelers rule. Back where other people call a vacuum cleaner a sweeper. And back where we can drive by the hospital where he was born. We can drive back into history on Conneaut Dr and I see my husband as a seven-year old and all the stories of playing outside. We venture to another house and I see the huge yard, the one of yore where he and his brother mowed acres and moved woodpiles.

And now this past week we take the same route to the same destination. Rather than a mini van with car seats, I am transported to the 1970s and a station wagon. Two boys in the back with sleeping bags. An early morning wake up not diminishing their anticipation of the smells of the ocean air.

Our first night on the boardwalk Rob can’t wait to introduce us to a bucket of fries and vinegar. Our son’s eager eyes taking in all his stories and tips. Images of the past walk right along side us and I can almost hear two young boys with coins in their pockets heading for Galaga.

Rob introduces Samuel to the first arcade. He wants to never leave. After some time there, Rob encourages them to move on down the boardwalk. I can see the decision in Sam’s eyes. He can’t imagine more. Does he stay right there? Or does he believe that there could possibly be more delight? He chooses to trust in his father. In the one who has been there and knows what is to come. Who has goodness and joy he wants to reveal to his son. He takes his father’s hand.

And for a week they dive into the more. Funland. First rides on ferris wheels. Salt water taffy. Miniature golf. Ocean waves. Sand castle building. Water parks. Ice cream. Arcades and a never-ending boardwalk.

Throughout the week CS Lewis’ words cross my mind:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  (C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory)

We’ve been back now a few days. The bliss of vacation still floats around us. New memories merging with old ones. I am more eager to grab the hand of my Father. The one who holds all my memories. The one who was there when Dr Leritz put on my braces. Who celebrated Rob’s 4-6th grade victories at Wff’nproof at Slippery Rock College.  (it’s a math and linguistics competition, I never thought it was real!) The one who sees every bit of our disjointed past, the only one who was present for it all.

He holds our past, making it whole. While gently leading us to the future, where deep joy can await us. Where fear and lies are drowned out by peace and redemption. The unknown, known by Him. A holiday at the sea. A boardwalk. His kingdom.

What are some of your favorite vacation memories?

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