Sometimes I feel like I write the same blog post over and over again... I guess that goes to show that God is a patient teacher and that I haven't fully grasped the concept of giving my plans to Him. About a month ago I was taught once again that my plans are not my own.
It was a Tuesday, and I was babysitting Luke when I started to feel like my acid reflux was getting bad. I left his house mid-afternoon and by then the pain was getting worse. After a rough drive home, I collapsed on the living room couch where I stayed for about 8 hours before consenting to go to the hospital. I really hate hospitals. I also really hate pain. But the hate for the pain ended up winning. I wasn't sure what was causing it, but I had a tiny concern that it was my appendix. Based on watching Ben go through an appendicitis attack a while back, my mom was thinking the same thing.
We got to the hospital a little after midnight and, had it not been for a Brian Regan moment, I might have freaked out. My mom dropped me off near the entrance to go find parking. . . yeah. "Go on in, tell em you're shot"/"I'll just go up a couple levels". The humor was good for me. Next was to see if the emergency room was even open. The lights were all off and no one was inside when we walked in. Way at the back of the room we saw a woman sitting at a desk and thankfully discovered that they were not busy at all!
After the worst was over (the awful needle), they tried to figure out what was going on. I had a low grade fever, but in the CT scan they couldn't see anything wrong, in fact, they couldn't even see my appendix. The next morning at about 10am, we met an assistant surgeon man who did some evaluations and decided that we should consider surgery anyway.
I was so blessed by friends who were texting me and praying for me throughout the morning. The second surgeon man agreed with the first, and he too thought that it was likely my appendix even thought the scan didn't show it. I really didn't want to have surgery for no reason, and I kept asking how long he thought it would take to recover. He estimated about a week before I was back up and running and three weeks before I could life heavy things. Mentally I calculated how many days I had before my planned trip with Xavier... 5 days. Basically equivalent to one week. I figured that I would be totally fine by then, after all how much can a tiny appendix hurt once it is gone?
Even big girls need their stuffed animals!
I really didn't take everything into consideration and I quickly realized after I woke up from surgery that it was going to take me longer than I thought to bounce right back. Thankfully it was my appendix that had been infected, but now I had a different pain! I was still holding out hope that the trip would happen after all... but I was a little more doubtful. Between pain, pain meds, and the constant ice pack, I was pretty grounded at home.
Balloons and flowers! Some of my favorite things! As the week progressed, it got closer to Saturday (when Xavier was coming back from Camp Barakel) and closer to Monday (when we were planning on doing our second east-west/sunrise-sunset Michigan trip). Xav's sister, Matilda, came to hang out with me on Saturday and I enjoyed the mental distraction. We watched girly movies, painted our nails, did hair, and it was so nice to catch up and chat.
But then Sunday came and the next day was the trip day and I still couldn't walk without my ice pack. I shed a few tears as I told Xavier that our plan wasn't going to work. I knew that we would both be going back to school soon and that there wasn't another set of days that worked. He said it didn't mind and offered to come just hang out with me for a few days...
Needless to say, it was good medicine! I managed to adventure out into the world and we traveled to Walmart (living on the edge). He also took me to see Guardians of the Galaxy (we are clearly very adventurous people). Then he went back home for a few short days before college move in.
Way back when, I heard of... or somehow got the idea of seeing the sunrise on the east side of Michigan as it rose over Lake Huron and then traveling west (in the same day) to watch it set over lake Michigan. Last year Xavier and I did just that and it was quite the adventure. All year we had been talking about how much fun it would be to do it again. After it got cancelled, I just couldn't let it go away completely. We talked about it and the logistics and finally decided on just a one day trip to Ludington and Grand Haven. That way we wouldn't have to get up at 3am and do as much driving. There was one day that worked for the schedules... and it was supposed to rain and storm all day.
We decided to go for it anyway and see what happened.
We saw the sunrise while driving and it was just as beautiful and exciting!
(Xavier is getting to be a pretty good photographer :} )
We ended up in Ludington and followed the signs until we reached the sand dunes. How can you not run up and down sand dunes before dipping your feet in the water? I ended up stowing my camera before too long; I just had to capture a little bit of the view first.
There is no better sea.
We walked along this "beach" for a while getting thoroughly wet along the way. Xavier eventually gave in and went for a swim while I watched him wave jump. I briefly chatted with a friendly grandma who was walking the beach and warning people of the rip tides. I assured her that Xav knew what he was doing but waved him back to shore once she left just to make sure.
Traditions are fun little fellows... as much as I tease my mom for all of hers, I can't help but begin to understand the fun in them. Last year we played putt putt golf at this quaint little place in Ludington, where Xav scored a hole in one and won a free round. We managed to keep it all year and brought with us to use on this trip! It looked like it was going to rain, but we made it through the course and stayed dry!
Picnics are the best! So much summer :)
Tie the trash bag to the keys so it doesn't fly away... he's basically a genius.
The wind was picking up and the sky was getting darker, but we decided to walk out to the lighthouse anyway. Waves kept splashing over the pier and I had to keep protecting my camera from the spray... but it was so fun!
A funny thing about travel is seeing people you don't expect to see. Xavier ran into some of his engineers from the summer and they chatted for a bit while dodging the waves that kept crashing on the lighthouse.
Through all this, it never actually rained on us! What a marvelous gift.
After thoroughly enjoying Ludginton, we ventured to Grand Haven for the sunset. The following pictures sum up the day pretty well. Silliness, challenging selfless with a heavy camera, breathtaking clouds and watching a perfectly gorgeous sunset from the same spot as last year.
PC : the boy
If (nearly) perfect days exist is this crazy messed up world, then this surely was one of them. It far surpassed my own plan for how and when the day would happen and I am so thankful for God's grace in the daily unexpected.
