A Man, His Dream, and a Little Bit of Green Paint {Behind the Scenes}

Lincoln: This man. Us : This family. Both having dreams of a better life. A better time. 

Or even just a better day.  

That can happen sometimes when you travel with your family.  What starts out as a day full of promise and anticipation ends up being a memory that you would rather forget.  And you ask your spouse, "How can they fight when we are spending so much money to give them these experiences?!" And you shake your head, yet also knowing that they will never appreciate the history of this kind of trip the same way I did not appreciate all of my college classes on writing and the Bible (Seriously, there were SO may kings!). 

So the memories will come even in the tiring times: The endless game of Tag Back that results in tears. Hearing, "How much longer?" so many times you are tempted to say, "We get there when we get there, so cool it!" and you will have just become your father in the wood sided station wagon so many, many years ago.  

I find that I actually understand and forgive my family for many things that happened on my childhood vacations.  There was the one time when I was seven that we climbed Pikes Peak, our family of five, and my father bought us two cookies and one glass of milk to share.  We laugh about that story to this day.  Yet, there we were, last week,  in our Nation's Capitol and I heard myself saying, "No, you do not need your own lemonade, you can share with everybody." (Beverages in DC and on any type of mountain are very expensive!)

And yet, we still have these dreams.  These dreams of perfect vacations and perfect moments that we can fill our scrapbook with Pinterest ideas. And we pray that we can at least get one picture that is Christmas Worthy:

What gives us away as tourists?  

Hmmm, could it be the matching shirts?! 

Please note the lemonade in my son's hand.  Thankfully, they were all sharing!

This place of honor and history and hope. This monument gives people this hope.

We were there just hours before this Lincoln was vandalized. (We had nothing to do with the green paint.  I promise...).  That is what we hope for...not liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but just a vacation that our children will remember fondly. A vacation that will bind us together with a loyalty and love that will stand the test of  time of junior high tween years and high school teen independence.

But as I think back on those moments of my family vacations, I have found that some of the ones I most remember are the ones that we struggled through.  That is what shapes us, that is what binds us, not only for the character that becomes embedded as we have to share, and give for one another, but also because we don't  want to tell anyone else what actually happens during some of those vacations. Those stories get told only to family who understand who we are or maybe to really good friends.  

A gal I have known since high school shared a story when her family visited Gettysburg and her high school son actually said the words, "This is why I like going on mission trips better than family trips, so I don't have to deal with this stuff." and stormed away from the picnic bench after a particular stimulating growth opportunity (read: Big fight).  Yet, this same young man just a few days later was laughing while playing water polo with seven little cousins.  I like to think God designs our minds with the capacity to remember that which will change us - hopefully for the better.

A little twist on Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address eloquently describes a perfect family vacation motto: The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but {we} can never forget what {we} did here.

So behind these smiles, is hope.  A hope that these kids will stick up for each other, call each other for their birthdays, ask each other to stand up in their weddings. And, as Chesterton said, hope  is the power of being cheerful in circumstances we know to be desperate. Lincoln had that hope.  I have that hope.  And I pray that my children will have that hope.

Because let's face it, we know our kids will face much more desperate times as they get older, but at the age of seven, it seems pretty desperate if your mama will not buy you a taser at the Old Post Office Gift Shop. 

Now, your turn:

What are some vacation moments that you still remember from your childhood??

Linking up with some wonderful ladies that get real and encourage at Behind the Scenes. Join us here.