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The spring season means the natural wrapping up and conclusion of things like television seasons and school years. Even though I have yet to bid my current job and living situations adieu, I’d like to think that it will still happen, even if it’s summer. After all, I will have a May birthday no matter what, and each passing week always holds some sort of significance in April . Yet, my travel-related entry concerns winter and mid-February.
My parents had a safe, meaningful and altogether memorable tour of Israel. My mother is almost finished with a power point presentation of her pictures, and on a recent visit with family in Clarkesville, Georgia, I also got to see what she had been working on. She combined some stock photos off of the internet with her own photos, and naturally, she included relevant biblical passages and the historical background. As for my dad, his video has long since included personal narration as he tapes, shooting subjects who think that they need to stand still and sweeping scenes or signs for locations. He can’t avoid background noise and ‘yakking,’ however, so he may get
around to dubbing (with more advanced technology than the VHS camcorder days) his video with music or other items as my mom is doing.
I understand how one tends to put aside the bags of souvenirs and notes and (from San Antonio) a shoebox filled with maps and travel brochures. I think my parents may have most of their scarves given out and their stories told to close friends and family. I myself have a fun memory of hanging out with our cat for their 11 days abroad; I managed one phone call to Jerusalem, taking in the foreign tongue of the menu and concierge who answered. I talked to my mom about what they had seen so far and how wonderful their guide was (he’s prominently featured in the video that I’ve watched on my dad’s little video camera screen). My dad came on second and asked “is that cat driving you crazy yet?”
‘That cat,’ or Tom Kitten, was more than a few days into his visit with me. I have a screened in porch that he loves to roam, mostly sitting in a plastic chair while gazing at the wildlife through something less enclosed than
the windows at my parents’ house. I managed to have my meals and work in my room, but Tom has had quite a first year of being all kitten (he will be one years old in late July, basically). To sleep, I basically barricaded my door at night; he was known to prowl and knock the container of his food from the kitchen counter in the early hours of the morning. I thought about what my parents were out seeing and how life six hours ahead was in a landscape of deserts and greenery within one small country.
Each day my parents would board their bus and get in quite a bit of sightseeing, scripture and general fellowship time with their group. They knew several of the other travelers from their church already, and now they can stay after a service and talk about visiting the Garden Tomb, the “Place of the Skull” and the lighter moments that were caught on my Dad’s camera. One such instance was a bona fide camel that was available for rides in a parking lot; various tourists in the Educational Opportunities Tour held on for dear life as the camel was led around
and directed by the men holding the reins (that was probably of some comfort when one is on a creature unlike the common horse. A friend of my parents did pretend that he was in a cowboy picture, however.) and cashing in on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Now that it’s been several months since they’ve returned, I have primarily seen video and the final product that is to be immortalized for groups and generations to come. I have no doubt of the trip’s staying power and how the highlights alone open up that part of the world to me and all who I can relay the sights, sounds and smells to when given the chance. Least of all is the connection to my temporary feline boarder and how I really do miss him when he hasn’t visited in a while—there were cats at several of the sites in Israel, and the animals are alive and well. One story I heard while my parents were greeting Tom Kitten and fighting off fatigue concerned a squawk from a cat in one of the reverent and monk-attending churches. I think someone accidentally stepped on the creature after trying (without success) to get it
to leave.
So in between the mixture of vegetables for lunch, collecting holy water for future baptisms and gaining such an understanding of so many passages, parables and persons in God’s word, this trip was a success. I didn’t intend to make light of the country of Israel or what it means to those who have yet to make their own pilgrimage, for I am simply relating what I can across countless miles and several hours. Not to mention that one’s imagination has to place these EO travelers in a land that has seen its share of re-enactments, paintings and hymns (to name a few of the connections the general public will know of in the states). That and my story is an ‘as told to’ one for this go-round. Next entry will be in the realm of “and now, for something completely different.”
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