A Pirate Journey

Pirates take many forms and many different types of journeys.  The one my family and I embarked on this past weekend with our church's Children, Youth and Families group was different than perhaps immediately comes to mind when one thinks of pirates.

Now, be assured that there were bonafide pirates there.  Capt. Jack Sparrow was there.  He had a discussion with Moses.  Alas, we were not there for that discusion Fri. evening.  But, we did see Blackbeard (or Black Stubble, as he referred to himself, as he had recently shaved) have a discussion with Jesus about baptism and joining Blackbeard's crew.  Finally, we saw one of our female ministers have a discussion with Grace O'Malley, the queen of the Irish Pirates.  That discussion centered around God, Christianity and Lent.

I had gone into this weekend with high hopes.  Hopes for myself, hopes for the food crew I had been asked to be a major part of and hopes for my family.  I had done the shopping for all the food for the weekend, for approximately 100 people.  I've never been involved off in an event where I was on the crew in charge of food for that amount of people.  I was a little scared, to say the least.  But, the journey showed me that there was an excellent skeleton of information on how to get started.  People who had done this in the past shared with me their wisdom and knowledge, not to mention spreadsheets and timetables.  That part of the journey definitely had structure and support to it.

I was excited this year when registration time came and I realized Cub wasn't napping anymore and that we had the weekend available!  I was flattered (and scared) when I was asked to play a leadership role in the food coordination aspect of the weekend.  After declining the leadership role in favor of being part of a team, I accepted those terms.  After arriving on site and seeing what the arrangements were to be and organizing the food and cooking items into the kitchen, I settled into what would turn out to be the role of the person who was in the kitchen consistently (or at least more than others) at each meal.  I enjoyed it.  I signed up to really be "in charge" next year.  (Yikes!)

The part of the journey involving my family had less structure and support to it.  Camera Guy came along very happily and participated more than I could've possibly expected or anticipated he would.  I was thrilled!  And, it turns out with my additional food role, I really depended on him to be with Cub a lot while I did kitchen duties.  However, on the flip side, Cub was much less enthusiastic and participatory than I hoped he'd be.  I hoped with the theme of pirates and being surrounded by friends he knew from church that it would be great fun for him.  Other than playing on a playground new to him, I think he could've done without any of it (with the exception of the talent show), and that makes me sad.  Playgrounds and play equipment are second only to robots and Legos.

We didn't participate last year because I thought he was too young to grasp any of it and being that we'd have to leave part way through on Saturday for his nap seemed to me to not be worth it.  I should probably cut him a break.  He's only 4 years old.  And he *did* participate in the weekend's talent show, albeit at the last minute, of his own choosing.  So there's that.  I guess this was a transition year for him.

So maybe next year he'll want to do more of the activities with the rest of the group.  Maybe next year he'll sit still a little longer during the church service.  (Which, by the way, keeping with this year's pirate theme, we had a eucharist service fully translated into pirate!  How cool is that?)

I find myself wanting him to be a little further along in his development (i.e.; sitting still, be having, participating) than is appropriate for his age and at the same time I find mysle yearning for the days of babyhood when he would cooperate because he wasn't yet mobile, not yet talking, not yet able to protest his displeasure.

My journey is one of wanting to hold onto what is long gone and wanting now what is probably yet far ahead of us.  This one's rough and I'm not enjoying it.  Arrrgggghhh!

A Warm and Fuzzy Journey

Cub and I spent a good part of the afternoon at a local park with a water feature.  He got wet and sandy and had a grand time playing with new found friends.  I had taken a book with me, to get in a little "me" time, but I found my gaze drawn more often to him and watching him navigate his way.  I smiled a lot this afternoon.

When we got home Cub took a bath while Camera Guy put the finshing touches on dinner.  I had asked him to be responsible for making dinner since I knew we'd get back from the park too late to start anything then.  And he did it.

We had a lovely dinner and Cub complimented his Daddy on the food.  I smiled and my heart warmed through as I gazed at Camera Guy and we shared a moment of love.

I'm an extremely lucky woman tonight as I feel warm and fuzzy about my small family.