Vacate

The joy of the vacation comes only after the packing of the car. Which is what I am about to do for our family trip to San Diego. Generally I like to pack all the bags… fit the kids in… pack more bags around them… get the car going with movie and earphones… and then my wife I close the doors, go back inside the house and have a nice long breakfast before leaving. (Ha! Just kidding!) I have often said that you measure time when driving cross country with the kids in dog years… every hour equals seven hours. But in this case we will be moving from 110 degrees to 70 degrees so the trip will be ‘lighter’. The truth is all good things come only after struggles. G. K. Chesterton said, “In everything worth having even in every pleasure, there is a point of pain or tedium that must be survived, so that the pleasure may revive and endure. The joy of battle comes after the first fear of death; the joy of reading Virgil comes after the bore of learning him; the glow of the sea-bather comes after the icy shock of the sea bath’ and the success of the marriage comes after the failure of the honeymoon.” I’ve never read Virgil but I understand Chesterton’s point. Pain can give birth to joy when you persevere. peace, J