What makes you happiest?
If you asked me that question, I'd say Jesus. My relationship with Him. I love Him passionately and blessed with His love.
Besides that, the happiest times I remember usually center around my family. Today was one of those "peak experiences."
I'll give you a little context just so you know the whole story--not just the perfect parts. It started in the afternoon, at the girls' rest time, which was inaccurately named because
no one was resting. Tired and frustrated, I tried to hold it together, talking with God about helping me control my emotions. But then one of my daughters (quite tired from a late night last night) kept having frequent outbursts of temper, and I wasn't sure I could keep myself from getting cranky, too! So I told Jacob, "I need to get out of here!" I knew that an outside activity would break up the mood and distract us all from our grumpiness. (Okay, not all of us. Jacob was fine. Steady, reliable Jacob. No wonder I married him.)
We went sledding.
We were at a city park, near the edge of a lake now frozen over and dotted with ice houses. Several times we sledded right on to the ice. My adventurous eldest daughter decided to disembark and start "adventuring," going further out onto the lake to explore.
We all realized that we saw people ice skating on a rink we never knew was out there. So as long as Kardelen was in the adventuring mood anyways, I asked her to lead us to the ice skating rink.
She said, "I'm adventuring us all over!" as she led the way and insisted we follow behind her tracks. As we approached the ice rink, I thought, "Oh, what fun it would be to skate here!" and mentioned that thought to my husband. "Hmm," he said, "too bad we didn't bring the skates." I smiled sweetly and told him they were in the car--I hadn't unloaded them from the last time I took the girls to the local skating rink.
My wonderful husband trudged back across the frozen lake, across the park, to the parking lot, and drove the car on the ice-road to the skating rink on the lake. As we waited for him to arrive with the skates, we fraternized with the other skaters, learning that the ice skating rink (really a huge oval loop) was made for a speed-skating competition next month, but it was open for the public any other time. They told us the ice had frozen so smooth this year, you could see mussels and plants and the bottom of the lake. We really could!
Jacob drove across the frozen lake to meet us, despite my assurances for years that "My Subaru will never drive on that lake!" (Every year one car goes in the lake. I didn't want it to be ours!) But as you can see, I had quickly changed my mind about that. We got the girls and me into our skates and skated away! With frequent stops to peer down into the ice looking for mussels, that is. :)
Sofia actually learned to skate today! Up till now, she'd been holding both her hands up in the air, and Jacob and I held them and helped her along. Today, she learned to hold herself up, and could skate next to one of us, while we simply held one of her hands. I'm so proud of her! (Oh, and more kudos to Jacob. He doesn't have skates, so he simply makes do with his boots. The things a man will do for those he loves.)
Often during the skating I thought of my childhood. Until I was eight, we lived at the edge of a small lake and spent countless hours in or on the lake, summer and winter. When the lake froze over, we'd build a snowman and shovel an ice rink around him, so we'd be circling the snowman as we skated. One year Mom took a picture of my sister and I by that snowman and it became our Christmas card. (Not surprisingly, I'm snacking on cereal in the picture. Mom sent it to Kellogg's to see if they'd want to use us as an advertisement, but they never responded. And I still love snacking on cereal to this day, though I don't bring the whole box with me when I ice skate anymore!)
I loved today. A surprising joy came despite a moody afternoon. I loved that we were together, that we were adventuring and exploring together, and we fought off the dangerous underwater ice monkeys of peril.
Okay, Jacob wrote that last line.
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