Tag: travel

How Do You Define Vacation?

I love words. Using just the right word conveys meaning that another word close in meaning just can’t convey. I have a friend who enjoys words as much as I do. When we get together we choose three words whose definitions are either unknown to us or our understanding lacks the necessary nuance that makes the word unique. Then we try to use the words during our time together. Sometimes we have to stretch the definition a bit to work a word in, but at least it helps to get it into the ol’ memory bank.

One word that is used a lot at this time of year is vacation. I’ve noticed lately that a new word has been coined: vacay. The Urban Dictionary shed some light on this new word for me. I had already figured out that it derived from vacation–no, duh–and meant the same thing as vacation, or at least the same thing as one of the official definitions. What I didn’t know is how long the word has been around. It was first used the movie Legally Blonde: You won’t be seeing me for two weeks. I’m going on vacay! I am assuming this line was uttered by Reese Witherspoon. But then I didn’t see the movie. Maybe I was on vacay.

According to my favorite dictionary, Webster’s, however, the word “vacation” has it’s own interesting definitions.

Definition #1: a respite or a time of respite from something, such as an intermission. 

This summer I have taken a respite from Greek. If you are a logophile (lover of words) then you know that a respite is a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant. I want to correct any misunderstandings; Greek is not unpleasant. But it is difficult. However, that’s still not why I took a break. My Greek reading partner–the same person with the English words–and I simply decided to take a vacation. After all, it is summer. And we both had projects to work on from which Greek was a distraction. The intermission will be over eventually and hopefully we’ll pick up where we left off reading the New Testament in the original Greek.

Definition #2 is a two-parter:
Part A is a scheduled period during which activity (as of a court or school) is suspended.

Besides taking a vacay from Greek,  I am giving myself a period of suspended activity starting July 1 and lasting all of July. I have marked my calendar as busy the whole month so I don’t accidentally schedule something. The reason for this vacation? Our first grandchild is due on July 1. We’re having a girl, Emaline. Since Butch and I had three boys, anticipating a girl is a whole new experience. Oh, yeah, the baby is the child of Joe and his wife, Meredith. Trey and Andrew, Joe’s brothers, are as excited as Butch and me. In fact, they have given themselves the title of Bruncle, a melding of brother and uncle (they are all three logophiles and constantly make up new words, sort of brother-speak).

Part B is a period of exemption from work granted to an employee.

Since I don’t work a 9-to-5, I don’t have to wait to take a vacation until I am granted an exemption by my employer. However, when I did work a 9-to-5 I took every allowable day of vacay. There are some who don’t work a 9-to-5, who would love to take a vacation but are unable to because of the work they do in the home. They are called caregivers, those who tirelessly take care of the needs of loved ones who can’t take care of themselves. They need a vacation most of all. If you click here you can view the webcast of a reflection I presented for these caregivers on the Morningside Ministries website, www.mmlearn.org.

Definition #3: a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation. For instance, “You won’t be seeing me for two weeks. I’m going on vacay!”

Due to Emaline’s impending birth and the joyous aftermath, we are not taking a vacation this summer. It’s all part of suspending my usual activity of definition #2A. ‘nough said.

Definition #4:  an act or an instance of vacating, as in “I am ending this blog post and vacating my desk”.

The Woodpile Kitty wishes you a safe and happy summer whether or not you take a vacation or even a vacay.

 

Called to Stand

In my last post I told you that Butch and I participated in a pilgrimage to Israel. Our tour leader was Mike Fanning and our pastor, Trey Little, was co-leader. Mike took care of the archeology and Trey took care of the spirituality. Two busloads of people, mostly from our church, toured from one end of Israel to the other. More than a check-off on the bucket list, it was indeed the trip of a lifetime.

People who had been before warned me that I would never read the Bible the same way nor think about Jesus the same way. This was certainly my experience. For instance, I was amazed at how small Israel is and how close together all the famous biblical sites are. The gospels are jammed packed with stories about Jesus and his travels from this town to that village. But while sailing on the Sea of Galilee, Mike pointed out that the area of Jesus’ ministry encompassed less than a quarter of the shore. I was shocked. Such big things happening in such a small area. How I read the Bible will never be the same.

I learned that Jesus probably traveled to a large Roman city, Sepphoris, that was within a few miles of Nazareth in order to work as a carpenter. While he was there he was undoubtedly exposed to Roman culture, religion, architecture and society. He was not the small-town, unsophisticated boy that I have always pictured. I will never think of him in the same way.

Before the trip I expected that visiting the Garden Tomb would be spiritually overwhelming. But no. It was interesting and enlightening, but not the knock-your-socks-off experience I was sure it would be. I anticipated that I would feel the crush of historic and spiritual significance at the Wailing Wall. But again, no. Don’t misunderstand; both were significant experiences, just not as I imagined.

Where I did experience the most profound spiritual experience was in the Garden of Gethsemane. I’m not going to write about it here. But if you go to this link (click here) you will be taken to a reflection I recorded for Morningside Ministries* and hear what I experienced that morning. In the video you will see a photo of what I saw as I gazed across the Kidron Valley toward the walls of the Old City. As I saw what Jesus saw it helped me to understood more profoundly what he experienced. Now I know him better. I certainly will never think of him the same way.

Moving through Lent toward Holy Week and Easter Sunday always causes me to pause and reflect on what Jesus was doing and feeling on those days. However, this year my Garden experience is illuminating my meditations of that time so long ago and what it means in my life today. Jesus was called to stand during the most agonizing time of his life. And he did it faithfully. I will never be called to stand and wait to be arrested and then crucified, but every day I am called to stand. I’m called to stand in difficult situations from which I’d rather run. I’m called to stand and wait patiently when what I’d rather do is run, or scream, or threaten to get my way and get it now. My hope and prayer is for me, and for you, to stand when called to do so and to do so faithfully.

Woodpile Kitty hopes for you a meaningful Lenten season in preparation for a joyous Easter.

* The website mmLearn.org is a service of Morningside Ministries. mmLearn was created and designed for caregivers, both those who work in care facilities and those who care for loved ones at home. The webcast, Called to Stand: A Lenten Reflection, is part of mmLearn’s Prayers for a Caregiver series which offers spiritual support to caregivers in the home.

Beginning of the End

Today is the first day of school. Even though I don’t have kids at home, the school year dictates my calendar. Until next June, I will allow extra time to drive through school zones or, better yet, avoid them if possible. I will stay away from the grocery store after 3:00 in the afternoon, too many moms with tired students in tow grabbing just one more ingredient for dinner. And the lack of traffic on the road at odd hours will remind me of holidays of which I was not aware.

Nevertheless, the first day of school is a nostalgic day for me. Because I was fortunate enough to have been a stay-at-home mom, my whole life revolved around the school calendar. Let’s see, 3 boys times 12 years of school, that’s 36 individual first days of school! However, one year stands out in my memory, because, for that son, it set the tone for all the days to follow.

A  week or so before the start of our oldest son’s freshman year at Churchill High School, we attended orientation night. At the end of the program a slide show took parents and students on a virtual tour of the next four years by showing all the activities that go on at Churchill ending with pictures of graduation. That’s when it hit me. This was it. Trey would be home for four more years. Then he would go off to college and there would be no more first days of school for him.

As we walked to the car, I put my arm around his shoulder and, with tears in my eyes, said, “Well, Trey, this is it, the beginning of the end.”

He looked at me with his biggest smile and earnestly responded, “Isn’t it great!”

Our viewpoints could not have been more different. I was looking down the mountain toward the end of the trek. He was looking up the mountain at the beginning of the trek. Little did I know that he would be gone much sooner than I expected.

It happened in his junior year. For one semester he was an exchange student to Germany and lived in West Berlin at the time the wall was still standing. The sadness and uncertainty of allowing him to go into the unknown was overwhelming. This was in the old-timey days when anyone could go to the gate at the airport; Butch and I, his brothers, Andy and Joe, stayed glued to the window until we saw his plane soar into the air. Six months later I felt like I was flying I was so happy and relieved when we met him at the airport to welcome him home. But this was his beginning. Years later when the wall fell, he called his German host parents from Chile where he was doing a college semester abroad.

He’s an adult now and we are still experiencing beginnings. This Sunday he arrives from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he now lives, for a thirty-day visit to the states. We will experience another ending when he leaves to go back home.

Yes, for he and I both that night was the beginning of the end. And today for the students in my city it is a beginning of the end with all the anticipation and trepidation that goes with beginnings and endings.  Parents and students, my advice: whether your view is up or down the mountain take it one beginning at a time. The ending will be here before you know it. Relish the beginning and the ending will be that much sweeter.