Shark in the Pool

For all the years I lived in Chattanooga and even though my dad worked for the railroad for 50 years, I had never been to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum until last year when I came home over Labor Day weekend. This morning, I went to the museum for the second time in my 52 years of life, and I took my great niece and great nephew. We rode the train, watched the guy turn the engine on the turntable, and shopped in the gift shop. I've been thinking a lot about Daddy on this trip, and our ride on the train just made me think about him even more. My dad was such a good man ... honest, caring, loving and compassionate to a fault ... and I miss him so very much.

Following the train museum trip, I swam in the hotel pool with the kids for a while before we went to my family's restaurant for lunch. My great nephew can't swim, so I either carried him in my arms or pushed him through the water on a large blue float. My great niece, on the other hand, can swim like a fish. When my nephew was on the float, my niece played like she was a shark chasing us around the pool as we screamed and tried to get away. The kids had a great time, and by the time we climbed out of the water, I was one pooped Aunt Terrie ... but ... dare I say it ... I ... had ... fun.

After lunch, I took my great niece home and spent the afternoon with my nephew and niece-in-law ... an afternoon filled with both memory making and memory sharing. They took me to the place where the boxes are stored that contain some things that were filled with items my mom left behind when she moved to Kansas City. I filled a bag with items I want to keep, including my first watch ... a Timex Cinderella watch. My day concluded with dinner with my sister and my oldest niece and nephew-in-law ... dinner at Red Lobster where we ate shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp (it is, after all, Endless Shrimp season at Red Lobster). We sat at the table for almost three hours ... reminiscing and telling funny stories on each other from years gone by and laughing until we cried. It was good day ... so good that I found myself wishing I could crush up all the happiness of the day and put it in pill form so that I could pop it into my soul on the dark days of life.

As I took Ollie for a few laps around the hotel after dinner, my mind swarmed with all the tenderness of the last few days, with all of the emotion, with all of the love my family has poured out on me. My friend back in Kansas City who told me I needed to go on this trip and let my family love on me was right ... it's like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold winter day. They don't seem to mind that I'm sad; they don't seem to mind that I'm not the person I used to be; they don't seem to mind that I came here wounded and bleeding. They just continue to love on me ... they continue to wrap their arms around me time and time again and just love on me.

In the pool today, my little great nephew wrapped his arms and legs around me in a death grip when I carried him in the water. You see, he's afraid of his head slipping under the water since he can't swim ... terrified of it, in fact. Even though he trusted me not to drop him, he still held on with all the strength his 5-year-old body could muster up, and I held him as tightly as I could with the hope that his fear would dissipate. There's a huge lesson in those two things, you know ... my family wrapping their hearts around me and my great nephew wrapping his arms and legs around me. I realized tonight sitting at the table during dinner ... that's the way it is with God, or the way it should be at least. God wants to wrap me up in His arms of love, and He wants me to wrap the arms and legs of my heart and soul tightly around Him ... He wants nothing more than to love on me, and I should cling to Him with all my strength lest my head slide beneath the waters of life. 

The shark in the pool didn't consume me today ... maybe, just maybe, the sharks that have been stalking the depths of my mind won't eat me alive either. And maybe, just maybe, that's the biggest lesson God has for me this week in the hills of Tennessee ... maybe ... just maybe.