Winnebago Tales
Sometimes traveling in the Winnebago presented interesting dilemmas. Since we were traveling for ministry (a job), our schedule was made by others. We didn't have the luxury of planning trips with things in mind like RV Parks available, time of day to arrive, etc. We were at the whim of others who had no clue about such things.
It was fall and we were headed into Washington D.C. The drive was beautiful coming up through Virginia. I did have a travel brochure of some kind and was making notes of what we'd like to see if our hosts would either release us long enough to do some fun things or if they actually asked what we wanted to do.
It was midnight when I had my first glimpse of the capitol. I was twenty-six years old and farther from home than I had ever thought I would be. It was heady stuff for one so young, raised in rural poverty. Both boys were awake. Ages two and three-and-a-half. After all, in our world midnight was not yet normal bedtime.
We drove past the White House and a light was on in an upper story room. "Looks like the President is up studying." I commented.
"Well, let's go visit him," pipes up the three year old.
"Oh, honey, we can't just go knock on the White House door," I explain.
"But why? Doesn't the President like us?" He asked as his bottom lip began to quiver.
"It isn't that he doesn't like us." I try to explain. "It's that he's the President. We don't know him. You can't go see the President if he doesn't know you."
"Why doesn't the President like us?" He repeats. Crying in earnest now.
I had no words to explain. In his world, we drove up to strange houses everyday. People came out to greet us, introduce themselves and invite us in. Why wouldn't the President do that? It just didn't compute for a 3 year old.
He cried himself to sleep then. Fortunately, that was before seat belts and laws about being belted down. So I held him in my arms in the captain's chair on the passenger side, rocking from side to side. (That WAS a good chair.) Finally his sobbing subsided and he slept quietly.
Two days later we were able to tour Mount Vernon. He was satisfied that the President liked us since he let us into his house. Never mind that that "President" had been dead for nearly 200 years. I was delighted that Washington did NOT decide to make an appearance!
Another day on the road.
It was fall and we were headed into Washington D.C. The drive was beautiful coming up through Virginia. I did have a travel brochure of some kind and was making notes of what we'd like to see if our hosts would either release us long enough to do some fun things or if they actually asked what we wanted to do.
It was midnight when I had my first glimpse of the capitol. I was twenty-six years old and farther from home than I had ever thought I would be. It was heady stuff for one so young, raised in rural poverty. Both boys were awake. Ages two and three-and-a-half. After all, in our world midnight was not yet normal bedtime.
We drove past the White House and a light was on in an upper story room. "Looks like the President is up studying." I commented.
"Well, let's go visit him," pipes up the three year old.
"Oh, honey, we can't just go knock on the White House door," I explain.
"But why? Doesn't the President like us?" He asked as his bottom lip began to quiver.
"It isn't that he doesn't like us." I try to explain. "It's that he's the President. We don't know him. You can't go see the President if he doesn't know you."
"Why doesn't the President like us?" He repeats. Crying in earnest now.
I had no words to explain. In his world, we drove up to strange houses everyday. People came out to greet us, introduce themselves and invite us in. Why wouldn't the President do that? It just didn't compute for a 3 year old.
He cried himself to sleep then. Fortunately, that was before seat belts and laws about being belted down. So I held him in my arms in the captain's chair on the passenger side, rocking from side to side. (That WAS a good chair.) Finally his sobbing subsided and he slept quietly.
Two days later we were able to tour Mount Vernon. He was satisfied that the President liked us since he let us into his house. Never mind that that "President" had been dead for nearly 200 years. I was delighted that Washington did NOT decide to make an appearance!
Another day on the road.
1 comment:
The faith of a child...and why shouldn't he believe he wouldn't be welcomed into the home of the president? God Almighty, the greatest Father of all time welcomes us all to come at any time. Day or night, we are invited into His presence.
And yet, many won't be able to enter into His heavenly home. As they are rejected, He will say, "I never knew you."
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