Vacation

Ever since I was young I knew that being a queen was not a coveted goal. I read about Marie Antoinette and said, "no thanks, I'd rather be a princess." You get a crown, pretty dresses, royal stuff, but not the responsibility of state decisions and intrigues. I liked that. I've kept by that decision pretty well. I'm not usually the one in charge calling the shots, I'm hovering moth-like in the background.

Motherhood kinda threw me into the queenship. Queen Anne became more than just a brand of chocolate covered cherries and morphed into my role in my home. Moth-like doesn't work in parenting. So, I call the shots and spank the bottoms and I sometimes writhe at this responsibility of state. Princess beckons.

So we went on vacation and I stepped off the throne. I stayed in a tree house with my children and husband for three days and really these tree houses were not conducive to queens anyway. I was jungle Jane. We explored a marble cave, rode a zip line, swung on a 50 foot swing, and hung out fireside roasting marshmallows the size of scepters.

Then we headed up to the drive-through wild animal safari. I was arm's reach away from a huge bear and tons of other wild wonderful animals. We discovered that Avonlea speaks Cheetah. They had an extensive conversation. (My mother tells me that this is possible because she's seen it on God TV).

Then we headed to the beach for four days. A beach covered in rocks and caves and tunnels and mystery. At this point no royalty would have claimed me because in my packing haste I forgot some essentials. Like shampoo. And clothes. And a hairbrush. And...TEA. I wore the same shirt for four days. So bush-headed and smelly we frolicked for hours each day on the beach. We rode horse back. We hit another wild animal park, this one a walk through. And we laughed and squealed as we fed deer from our hands and petted a snow leopard.

And I held these babies each night and narrated their story. What has been, and what in faith, is to come. I was the court story-teller, the dream weaver, the visionary. The God whisperer. The mother.

We came home to showers with shampoo and clean clothes and comfortable beds that fit our kinks. We have pictures of our adventures and a bit more life story written out. I scrambled back on the throne with a priceless jewel, "time together" in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.