Thursday, January 8, 2009

Honeymoons are so . . . over-rated.

My son recently returned from his honeymoon. (It was delayed due to school) It was a much anticipated event, of course. They went to Durango, Colorado with plans of skiing, sledding, and snowmobiling. It should have been a wonderful, event filled, romantic week. But it wasn’t.

The morning of their departure, they awoke to a dead car battery. (An omen perhaps?) After getting it fixed, they headed out, a bit delayed but still with high expectations. By the time they arrived at their condo, however, Ryan had a full blown head cold, headache, and fever. He spent the next two days feeling miserable, while dear, sweet Kali, tenderly cared for him.

When he finally began to improve, they ventured out to a Mexican restaurant where Kali got food poisoning and spent the rest of the night throwing up. That was followed by her catching Ryan’s head cold and so it became Ryan’s turn to give tender care. In many ways, it was a rather miserable week for the two of them, but even if they had felt better, their dreams of snow sports probably wouldn’t have materialized—due to the constant snow storms and the ever present avalanche warnings.

And so they returned home somewhat disappointed, but grateful to finally be feeling healthy again, and back where the sun could warm their hearts and souls.

I am so sorry to say that when he told me his woeful tale, I laughed. Oh, I felt sorry for them, I really did. And I will probably have to repent for my laughter, but in some ways it just struck me as funny. Just as it did when I saw my daughter the day after her wedding when we met at the airport for our flight to Colorado, and she told me she had been up all night with the stomach flu. She spent her wedding night with her head in the toilet and her dear husband standing behind her holding back her hair. Now that is true love! (Little did he know he would spend the next nine months watching her be sick as well:-)

I gave my son the same advice I gave my daughter . . . life would go on, better moments were ahead, and someday they would see the humor in it all.

So, I was telling my friend Lisa all of this at lunch yesterday, and she said, “Isn’t it funny how we look forward to these special events, thinking they are going to be so wonderful, when the real joys in life are usually found in just day to day living.” I had to laugh at that. Isn’t it so true? I mean I love having events to look forward to. I love to plan parties and thoroughly enjoy going on exciting vacations. And I always love a new adventure. But I also had spent the morning at the computer working on my seminary lesson when Lisa called and said, “Meet me in a few minutes at Paradise Bakery for lunch.” And so I dropped everything, ran out the door and met Lisa. And sitting there, visiting with her, one of the very best women I know, was truly one of the simple good times in life and brought great . . . joy to my journey.

8 comments:

Momza said...

What a very true observation! Life's best moments don't always come with glaring fanfare but more like little cupcake sprinkles.

I hope your newlyweds are well and happy in their new two-ness.!

Rebecca Irvine said...

I love this observation--it made a light bulb go off in my head. Thanks for such a great post.

Neil and Meredith Larson said...

Oh dear I hope all your kids aren't destined to lose their cookies on their honeymoons. Good luck Kristen

Dave and Camille said...

Haha... I have to admit that I don't feel to bad for Ryan and Kali, considering I spent our honeymoon recuperating. Though, Kali did have it pretty rough. That's the good part about life... while every moment might not live up to your expectation, at least it makes you more thankful for the ones that do! :)

Heidi said...

You are such a sweet bloggist. Honeymoons are quite simply hellish, esp. for the uninitiated. Except for Miss D and her Sir A--I am sure theirs was splendid!

Joy For Your Journey said...

Heidi--I hope that means that Miss D and Sir A will not be kept apart in the sequel! :-)

Terri said...

That is sweet advice and very true!

Melissa said...

I want to be the first to welcome Ryan and Kalli into the very exclusive "bad honeymoons in Colorado club"! So far Camille, Dave, and Joe and I were the only members. Now maybe we have enough members that maybe we can have a club meeting once a year or so. Do you think we should meet in Durango, Colorado?????

You may remember that right after Joe and I arrived in Durango I developed a MAJOR migraine. I think all of the stress from the week leading up to our big day had taken it's toll on me.

I felt much better the next day so we went to town and went to a little italian restaurant for dinner. My first clue should have been when I told Joe my meal didn't taste very good. I kept adding salt to it in hopes that would improve things.

Well low and behold I woke up in the middle of the night with the most horrific case of food poisoning that I have ever experienced. The next two days I didn't move except to run to the bathroom and stick my head in the toilet! The funny thing is that Joe would follow me into the bathroom and hold may hair just like Dave did for Camille. Hey, he doesn't do that for me anymore! Hmmm does that mean the honeymoon is over?

Anyway, Joe and I have had quite a few laughs over the years about how he spent our honeymoon alone. It just means that someday they have to take a really great second honeymoon!