We are coming back from our vacation today. Actually, I am writing this on a plane over Chicago. It was a fantastic trip and I am sure I will write several posts about it. I was planning to write while I was there. It seemed fun and exciting to post from the Virgin Islands, but I was too busy sipping mock-tails and battling it out in the bingo room. I also had the opportunity to re-read one of my favorite books. It's the book I would write if I wrote a book. I feel a mix of pride and jealousy that she put it on paper first. I wonder if you can write a sequel to another person's book. The book is Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist. She is honest and fabulous and wants to celebrate life like I do.
I know this quote is so 2008 and very APU, but I love it. "I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift, who will use it up and wring it out and drag it around like a favorite sweater."
I couldn't have said it better. I want to bring God joy as He watches me fully embrace the life I was given. Cruises and vacations provide a unique opportunity to do that. They take you out of the every day chores and errands and place you on an empty white beach with a book. You get to try vegetable pâté and have 5 desserts after every meal. You get to wear a bathing suit in January and ring in the new year with a balloon drop. You even get to go dancing with your two best friends and have breakfast delivered to your room because going down to get it seems too difficult. Every day can't be a cruise day. Some days, most days, you have to clean dishes and think about things like taxes and cavities, but even then there is the joy and thrill of life running through your veins. I pray I find joy, beauty, and adventure in my everyday house unpacking, teeth flossing, ice crushing life.
