I Would Happily Go Back

The boys are back! They returned to infuse this quiet tomb of a house with their boisterous presence this afternoon. Thankfully, my tasks were mostly done. The house was spotless (for about five minutes, until YS dumped two baskets full of toys in the living room and the tin full of magnetic letters all over the floor). Back to the lived in look.

I did manage to stuff four boxes (BIG boxes) full of stuff to get rid of in various venues (thrift store, crisis pregnancy center, future garage sale? and children's resale shop), plus I have a box of books that I'm hoping to offer to the Lunch Bunch workers tomorrow.

Lunch Bunch is a program my little boys have been enjoying this summer (although ES was not so thrilled to join us last week, especially since a bunch of cheerleaders were practicing nearby). They go through the line and pick out a free book and then get a free lunch. We sit on the grass and they eat their lunches. Last Tuesday, MS was thrilled to see that a girl near him picked out the book "Charlotte's Web." He enthusiastically told her that we are reading that and it is a really good book. (The fact that it has a spider in it has nothing to do with it, I'm sure! wink!)

The sad thing is that I still have loads more stuff to get rid of. Still, even a little cleansing made me feel better. But all of this, is really unrelated to my title (just a bit extra thrown in there, by way of introduction).

Where would I happily go back to? Why, to my earlier Salvation Army days, that's where! Tonight, I was browsing some photos on Facebook. It always amazes me that you can log into someone else's pictures, even if you don't necessarily know that person. I noticed an album titled Chile Vacation. Since it was a Salvation Army dude posting the photos, I was fairly sure that my nephew, Eric, might show up in the photos, so I decided to browse.

Eric is participating in something that I did 22 years ago (oh my, can it be that long ago???). He is going on a Salvation Army Summer Youth Missions trip to Chile. When I went, my team ministered in the Philippines. My partner, Jody Hurula, and I were stationed at the corps in Tondo, Manila. It was a wonderful, life-changing experience and one I would love to go back to.

I remember sending letters (really long epistles, I'm sure, since I tend to be wordy, in case you hadn't noticed) back to the corps at Oak Brook Terrace, providing highlights of our trip. Now, I can view photos of my nephew before he even returns home. Amazing. I know that the corps officer posted my letters and many of the corps members mentioned how much they enjoyed reading of my experiences.

I'm sure they smiled at my naivety when I recounted that I had sung a solo there entitled, "Snowing." It is a beautiful song, to be sure, and one I was especially in love with back then. Still, in my youth, it didn't strike me as an unwise choice, despite the fact that none of the people in the Philippines had ever experienced snow. I think I should have changed the words to "And somewhere its raining ... see the drops drifting down, as the raindrops surrender to the sopping ground ... like the good grace of Jesus that now covers our sin, in the kingdom of Heaven, its RAINING again." Indeed, it did rain there an awful lot!

I really can't wait to hear about Eric's time (although, I doubt I'll hear very much, since he's not exactly a letter writer). Still, I will get to hear something about his experiences at the Summer Missions program out at CBLI in a few weeks. I'd go on another missions trip in a heartbeat ... if only I could leave my children behind with my husband. Or, better yet, how about a family mission trip (now I'm the one chuckling, since that would really require a snow like transformation, altering my husband's views towards travelling).

I also stumbled upon someone else's photos of Eric's send-off at the Central Territory's Congress. I grew up going to these congresses. So many happy memories of times hanging out with friends and of meetings and praise sessions together. I would love to go to another Congress, too.


Eric is the one on the far right.

As I viewed the photos, another funny memory entered my mind. I saw a photo of the newly-commissioned cadets (in The Salvation Army, the annual congress is the time when they commission new cadets and send them out to their appointments) flanked by the Salvation Army flags. This brought me back to my niece, Kirsten's dedication ceremony at the Norridge Salvation Army corps. I doubt any of my readers were present for that ceremony.

If they were, I'm sure the focus of their attention was, rightly, on the baby and the couple presenting that baby to the Lord. However, my memories of this dedication are all sadly skewed. I wanted to focus on Kirsten and my brother and sister-in-law. I truly did. In spirit, I was with them 100 percent.

However, I am a dweeb. I admit it. Sometimes, I just don't get things that are clearly common sense to others. If you had been at Kirsten's dedication and had focused your attention, wrongly, on me instead of that precious baby, you would have realized that you were in the presence of true dorkiness!

I was assigned to bear one of the flags for this ceremony. Bear it, I did! I bore that flag with my entire strength for the entire ceremony, never once realizing that the person on the opposite side, bearing the flag which connected to my own flag pole, had wisely placed their flag ... on. the. ground. I stupidly thought I had to hold that flag. I so wish that someone would have quietly walked up and interrupted the ceremony to place my flag stem firmly on the ground. I believe I couldn't move my arm for an entire week after that.

Still, I would happily go back to that moment, when my niece was a mere infant and my nephew hadn't even been conceived. I would go back to that time when my life was full of friends and summer missions trips and congress send-offs. I would go back to wearing a Salvation Army uniform and listening to Major Gene Anderson preach. I would go back to summer softball tournaments (even though my skills at softball were akin to my skills in flag-bearing). How happily I would march around the Norridge neighborhood again, with the hopes of bringing others into our Salvation Army ranks.

Tell ya what, though, if I did go back ... I wouldn't sing "Snowing" to the Filipino Salvationists and I wouldn't ever hold a flag up during a ceremony again. Life lessons are necessary after all.