Vacation highlights

I returned from vacation and just finished wading through all the shared digital photographs we took - editing and organizing the lot, quite a project. I created an album called highlights to be able to share with interested friends and family members when I meet with them. As always, the true highlights are not the spectacular landscapes or amazing food, the rich exposure to people, places, and culture - my real highlights have an inextricably linked spiritual dimension.

First of all, I am amazed at how much the Lord loves us and laid His protective hand over us. It doesn’t mean I didn’t get food poisoning, a URTI (upper respiratory tract infection), or COVID, but despite all these ailments, I was fortunate enough to extract maximum joy and pleasure from this trip. I played, I ate, I laughed, and I spent time visiting with relatives, which is so precious, the older we all get.

P and I were blessed to be able to enjoy our small plane and helicopter rides to visit two glaciers, for we were told cancellation rates were 80 per cent due to inclement weather. Banal as it sounds, I prayed for good weather, and Jesus granted it. We were not disappointed, for the land sang out its beauteous nature wherever we went, echoing resoundingly the glory of God’s handiwork. Everything, and I mean everything, even the wildflowers were beautiful.

Again, knowing the desires of our heart, we were always within walking distance of a church to attend mass. The most amazing one was in Whittier, when the Holy Family Cathedral was diagonally across from our hotel so we could squeeze in morning mass before we caught our motorcoach to the port. Best of all, we visited two cathedrals that Saint Pope John Paul II visited. This has become part of our holiday tradition for almost every country we visit, we have been able to follow his ‘trail’. I am an ardent JP2 admirer, if you didn’t know that.

The two months preceding this vacation have been brutal, so it was a blessing to be able to take time off to recharge. Travel can be fraught with setbacks and frustrations but ours went like a dream, no missed connections, no lost luggage, or being scammed by tourist traps. We were always safe, even when we walked in dodgy neighbourhoods seeking out comfort food. And I slept well, a much-needed sleep that has been denied for so long.

My biggest highlight from this vacation is how much my husband loves me and how much he cherishes me for he really set out to make my birthday this year extra-special. I felt very much renewed in our marriage, and very much affirmed as a woman and his wife. This is not due merely to the fact he treats me with an over-abundant love, but because he is truly a man who sees Jesus in everyone he meets, and treats people unfailingly with kindness, gentle respect, and generosity. His heart is set on the Lord and he never fails to honour the Father in everything that he does, even on vacation. As the Na’vi people greet each other in the Avatar movies, “I see you”, I could see P and all that he is, so clearly, and I really love what I see.

Finally, my biggest insight is this: my personal cross, which encompasses my vocation and my state of life, will not only win me the crown of eternal life after I die (I can only pray for His mercy in this endeavour), but, it is one I carry most willingly, for it not only speaks of sacrifice, hardship, and great demands; of hurt, loss, and pain; and of sometimes going where I do not desire to go; but it also speaks of impossibly beautiful moments and soul-gratifying, fulfilling experiences; of overflowing peace, joy and deep, bountiful love; and of many opportunities that can potentially lead to the making of me. I can only weep and give thanks in awe of my cross, and I thank God for vacations, and this particular one to Alaska.