Reliving a Day

I got this idea from Bekah, who got it from a radio show host, who got it from someone else.

If you could relive a day or event in your life (excluding your wedding day or the birth of your children), what would you choose to relive and why?

Bekah came up with a Top Ten list, but I'm going to go with five (and maybe a followup of travel moments).

It's hard coming up with days to relive, because so many of the good times are bittersweet or tarnished. In high school and early adulthood I was insecure and feared rejection, and my fears often got in my way. But these five days or events were pure joy, pure pleasure. In no particular order:

1. Dancing with George.
One of the beach cities farther south has a tavern that holds concerts with semi-big names, and they used to have swing dancing Sunday afternoons. Having taken lessons, I went to the tavern by myself to dance. There was this bald-headed man in jeans and a white T-shirt who looked like a stevedore, and he was dancing very intimately with a woman who was obviously his love-interest. But then he danced the same way with another woman, and another. And then he asked me to dance, and I said, "Oh, I'm not ready for you!"

I learned his name was George, and he used to be in amateur competitions with his former dance partner, but she ran off with some other man.

That next Valentine's Day, one of the area churches was having a Swing Dance for their singles group, and I was telling a co-worker about it. She asked me a question, for which the answer was, "I'll dance with anybody. Except George."

Yes, you guessed it. George was at the dance. But he behaved himself, leaving actual air space between himself and his dance partners, so when he asked me to dance, I accepted.

Dancing with George was an E-ticket ride! He was a strong lead, easy for me to follow, and all I had to do was obey his direction and feel the thrill. It was exhilarating, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

2. Northern Lights.
On a high school speech tournament (I did Oral Interpretation of Literature, NOT Debate), we were coming home late at night from another town in Montana. On this trip, we were stuck with a school bus, instead of the Greyhound-style bus with storage beneath the floor. So all our luggage was piled on the back rows of seats up to about window-level.

Somebody noticed the Northern Lights out the back window and mentioned it. But only three of us, out of about 30 people on the speech team, sprawled out on top of the luggage and watched for a long time as the Northern Lights glowed and changed colors and swirled like a filmy curtain billowing in a breeze.

3. The Girls' Long Weekend in Dallas.
Several years ago, after my mom and I had been to multiple Women of Faith conferences, we realized my sister hadn't ever been to one. So we bought tickets to the conference in Dallas (the nearest one to where she lives), made reservations at a nice Bed & Breakfast in downtown Dallas (it looks like she's remodeled since we were there), and the three of us girls spent our time at the conference or trying to beat the 112 degree heat outside. We had a wonderful time. And with the trip my mom and I will be taking--with my sister joining us sometimes--we should be able to relive the Girls' Long Weekend again.

4. Coming to Faith.
I mentioned at the top of this post that I was insecure and afraid of rejection for much of my life, and this led me to believe that God--who knew the real me--wouldn't have me. I won't go into a lot of detail, but when I was 33, I finally had to wrestle with what I knew about God in my head and what I feared in my heart. And I knew that who I was at the core of my being depended on the result of that battle.

Of course, God won the fight (and so did I), and I've never doubted His love for me since. But the contrast from before was remarkable. I felt taller. And cured, as though my soul had been infected all my life, and now all the infection was gone. I learned to say, "No," and I didn't feel guilty, though I did overwhelm a couple people with No until I learned to handle the freedom.

But the biggest difference was that, since I no longer focused on whether people might reject me, I had so much more energy and attention to focus on how the other people felt. I went from self-centered misery to having a heart for the misery of others. All because the Lord finally got through to me that His love was for me too.

I'd relive that joy over and over.

5. Any day with my dad.