My
mom loved to travel. Each summer we took several short trips and one extended
trip. We might be home only long enough to pay bills, check in on family
members, do the wash and then get packed again. In the summer of 1968, we were
home for sixteen days between the end of school in June
and the beginning of school in September.
Mom
figured that by camping, the only cost was the price of the campsite and the
cost of gasoline (not $2/gal. then!); otherwise, our food cost the same. So,
over the years, we drank the free water at Wall Drug, hiked the Black Hills, and
swam in Sylvan Lake. We went to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce Canyon,
Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. We went to Jackson Hole and the Garden of
the Gods, Williamsburg and the New York World’s Fair. We went to the Ozarks, and
we got threatened by the police in Alabama for eating lunch in the “colored”
park. We went to the Seminole villages of Florida and saw the alligator
wrestlers. We climbed all over the Constitution in Boston harbor, swam in all
of the Finger Lakes, walked the battlefields of Gettysburg, Yorktown, Shiloh,
and heard of the battles of more forts than I ever dreamed of. We saw Rainbow Falls,
Niagara Falls, Copper Falls and Chippewa Falls.
There
were good times and some not-so-good times along the way. But because Mom
thought that we should be at home wherever we happened to be, certain constants
traveled with us:
(1)
Call Grandma every Saturday night.
(2)
Go to church on Sunday morning. If we were traveling, we checked out towns
along the way for worship times and then looked for a parking place. We
worshipped in Lutheran churches of all kinds, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian.
Several times we even worshipped with Roman Catholics.
(3)
Have devotions of some sort each day, even if it was only stopping to
wonder at God’s creation for a few minutes.
(4)
Say grace before every meal, even cold cereal in the rain.
(5)
Start each day singing, “This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Mom said it gave us good weather to travel
in and helped us return home in safety. It was her credo.
I won’t speak for my sister, but there were times
when I thought Mom was nuts. But, today, when I travel, I find myself repeating
the same habits. In these rituals, I discover her wisdom. We can be home
wherever we are if we remain centered in who and whose we are.
Prayer
Lord,
as we travel in this world you’ve created, help us be mindful of your works and
attentive to your people. May we always knowing your leading on our way. Amen
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