Once upon a time

"And they journeyed..."

Genesis 35:5

The Apple of my Eye, and my Amazing Boy spent the past week in New York City.   They were there with several members of my family for the Yankees/Dodgers games.  But neither of them had been to New York before, so they tried to make the most of their week.  Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and Coney Island.  Not to mention the Apple Store and the Lego Store.  You can guess which of them wanted to go to which of those stores. 

I did a lot of praying for them this week ~ safety, adventure, fun, and good old-fashioned male bonding.  But I also had an additional prayer based on a recent conversation with my Amazing Boy.  We were working on US History in school, and found ourselves studying something that hearkened back to our trip to the East Coast in 2009.  He remembered the experience that tied in with our lesson, but not as well as he would have liked.  And he said to me, "I wish I'd been paying more attention on that trip."

Now, the thing is, I know he was paying a lot of attention on that trip.  Although he was only nine, he has always been mature for his age, and he loves history.  So he didn't spend our vacation playing video games and whining about when we'd get to stop at the next McDonald's.  He paid attention, he asked questions ~ and answered them when we quizzed him on things. 

So I don't think it was that he wasn't paying attention.  I think what he really wishes is that he retained more from that trip.  So this week, I prayed for a sort of internal connection for him, you know?  That he'd be fully a part of everything he was experiencing.

But I'm not worried.  I know that with this trip, as with our trip in 2009, everything he needs will stick with him.  We talk about that trip every couple of weeks in our home.  If it doesn't happen to come up in school, then we see something on TV that prompts us.  We have photos, we have souvenirs.... we have reminders. 

And I know that that trip is a part of who he will become, even if that simply means someone who wants to go back and learn more because he doesn't remember enough.  For me, really, that was part of the purpose of the trip.  We didn't have time to explore everything in great detail.  I just wanted to my kids to see enough to illustrate their history books.  Whatever parts of the trip piqued their interest will prompt them to learn more.

We can't learn from everything we experience.  And we certainly can't remember it all.  But I love knowing that things add up, and wisdom comes from unexpected places.  Day by day, little by little, and experience by experience, we are all growing to become who we are becoming.  And any lesson we miss out on learning, He gives us another chance to learn. 

But the beauty of it is that sometimes the learning has happened whether we remember that it happened or not!

~ "How much better to get wisdom than gold!

And to get understanding 

is to be chosen rather than silver" ~

Proverbs 16:16

~