Wild Weeks

It has been too long since I've been on here, this might be rather long :)

So much has happened since I was here last. I've had a few more memorable instances down by the marina I told you about in my last post, the one by the coast guard station. The one that pops into my mind is from last Thursday. Before going downtown to watch the free movies in the park that Caleb helps with, I was taking Honey for her walk. We came upon a family who was trying to take pictures with the car ferry behind them as it came in. I offered to take their picture but I don't think they heard me, but strangely no one else would talk to them even though there were about fifteen people there. I stood, just a few feet away, and noticed that what sounded like clear speech from a few feet away was actually half grunting and trying to form words; this family was all partially deaf and could only speak a little bit. So I thought a minute and got the father's attention, enunciated the best I could and held up three fingers as I asked if they'd like me to take a picture of them together. They eagerly agreed with the biggest smiles I've seen from tourists in a while. So I took the picture, stood around for a minute and continued on my way. It shocked me how happy they were, but it brightened my day.

Picture of everyone that my uncle photoshopped

To go back a little bit, a few weeks ago was our family reunion. Contrary to many people, I love family reunions, and attend every chance I get. I may vaguely recognize people, but I don't know who half of the people are :) isn't that how reunions are supposed to go? Thank goodness for name tags. This reunion was special to me. In the last few years I have realized just how precious family is. The reunion is from my great grandma's family, which was very large. However, now there are only four of the sisters left, and they're not doing very well healthwise. It really made me think though, how they are the basis of the reunions. Will these get togethers still carry on when they are no longer with us? I hope so. To see them all together talking, leaned in so they could hear each other, was so precious. They may live far away, but they just pick up where they left off and go from there. When their parents immigrated here from Hungary, they sought a different life, and they built up a family. It's crazy to think that there are only a few of that generation left.. and they live far away from each other. It seems everyone lives far away from each other now. Seeing all the other family is great too. It's usually the one time every two years that I get to see most of them. I was bummed Caleb couldn't go, he would've got a kick out of the "silent" auction, which was exactly the opposite of silent. But it was a fun day regardless, and I got to catch up with quite a few of the cousins. I also got to see my grandparents and a few girls from church. It was good to be in my hometown for a weekend.

As the weekend ended and I drove home with my sister as co-pilot, we talked about our upcoming trip with the youth group to the amusement park, Cedar Point. I hadn't realized we left the very next day, so I tried to gear up and mentally create a packing list. My sister had never been there before, but she had been looking up the roller coasters and watching videos filmed from the first cart, so she was pretty psyched to finally get to go. I was just glad I wasn't one of the people who had to drive the fifteen passenger vans there and back. So as Monday afternoon rolled around, we headed to the church and I got a phone call asking if I would drive one of the vans.. because no one else could. I nervously agreed to do so, and don't regret it. Besides being very tired from the weekend before, I made it through. A lot of prayer, caffeine, and music aided my consciousness though :) We arrived at the church we were staying the night at around 1am, and shortly after crashed for the night. We got up, had breakfast, and headed out to CP, which was only now a mile away. After splitting into groups and heading into the park, the first ride our group decided to go on was the Mantis (right).

Personally, it is one of my favorite rides. My sister had told me that she didn't want to go on some of the really big coasters because she
can't breathe and her stomach hurts, but we learned that she can defy breathing and a stomachache real quickly. She absolutely loved Mantis. The one neither of us felt like going on was the Top Thrill Dragster. It is 420 feet high and accelerates to 120mph in 4seconds. It's crazy. I had been on it before, and didn't think it was all that its cracked up to be. But halfway through the day as we were walking towards its, my sister said, "lets go on Dragster," so on we went.

Normally there's a wait that is a few hours long, but due to rain that morning the park was pretty clear. We were sitting on the cart in ten minutes, ready to go. There were some shaking knees, but as soon as it shoots you forward there is no turning back. So up we went... parallel to the ground, the only thing around us for a split second was the blue sky. Then we peaked, spiraled downward, and before we knew it our ride of less than 20 seconds was over. There was talk of going on Millennium Force next (right), because its the next smallest, and my sister had just been on the largest one, so we did. It was fun. As the afternoon became evening, those of us who were driving met up to talk, and were told to get some rest. I was told to get some sleep on a bench, but refused because a small young girl sleeping on a bench in the middle of a very large amusement park doesn't strike me as a good idea. So we found a grassy spot and I tried to nap while some friends sat around and talked. We headed for home around nine, and again with much prayer, caffeine, and music, made it home around 4am, and crashed for some much needed sleep.

After driving one of the vans with thirteen high schoolers back and forth, I understand why the drivers of the vans when I was in youth group needed quiet, good behavior, etc. I always knew it was good, of course, but I didn't quite realize how nerve racking it actually is to drive a very large vehicle with other lives in your hands. Kudos to all the youth leaders who do that on a regular basis - you deserve some major props for sure!


(to be continued)