Great Days to Remember | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Great Days to Remember | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kristi Wood
07/07/06
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When it comes to great moments in my life that I hope to always remember I would say the earliest was the day I leaned to read. I say the day even though it must have been a process. I give full credit to my parents who read to me on a daily basis. I’ve also been told of how my older bother and sister would come home and ‘play school’ teaching me whatever they had learned at school that day. But one day it was like looking at gibberish one moment and reading clearly the next. The blurry smear of letters resolved themselves into the familiar ‘ABC’s’ I knew so well from singing the song. And the well-worn neural pathways of ‘The Cat in the Hat’ synched up giving me the most exquisite ‘ah-ha’ moment any three year old could know. It took over a year for my mom to realize I could read. It was my grandmother who finally convinced her I was reading those Dr. Seuss books. And it must have been my pride that led me to read the newspaper when challenged even though it ended the sweet and secret knowledge of every gift and event planned in front of me by the spelling out of the key words.

Another great day I will remember fondly is the day I sorted out for myself which icons of my childhood were false and which were true. The day started out badly because I had been tormented by my previously kindhearted siblings who were now intent on informing me of the falsehoods behind the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny. I’ll admit that once I was able to acknowledge that none of those traditions made any real sense I was challenged to come up with a reason to believe the Bible stories I was taught alongside the other stories. I mean, if it’s not that reasonable to think one guy could circle the world in one night distributing toys via a reindeer-drawn sled then how much of a stretch is it to believe in a guy raising himself from the dead? But I had already met Jesus who had already proven to me that His love was very real and reliable. After all, in the darkest times in my young life I had never seriously thought to call on the Easter Bunny to come and save me but rather I knew I could call on the Man celebrated at Easter time. And once I had let go of the childish fantasies without losing that faith I was free to live in the reality of God’s love.

And as I know I’ll never forget two greatest days ever when my children were born. The first time I was scared to death having only turned twenty myself a couple of weeks earlier. But the waiting was finally over and the excitement soon helped to dispel the fear. I remember I had a small stuffed dog for a focal point and my favorite Bible with me. In the delivery room my dear husband stood by the head of the table looking pale. The nurses even had to offer him a stool to sit on, more concerned with the possibility that he may pass out than at my condition for a moment. At the other end of the table was my mother. This was her first grandchild and her first opportunity to observe the process from such a vantage. But I was too busy pushing to be embarrassed for long. And what seems to me in hindsight a very short time I had a baby girl in my arms. Then, just 13 months later, her sister was born. I remember that I wore shorts into the hospital that fall day and needed to send for jeans and a sweater just two days later so I wouldn’t freeze on the way home. And I remember missing my one year old baby terribly and being so happy when she came for her first visit in the new purple sweat-suit with the elephant on it that my aunt had bought to deal with the change in the weather. I don’t think it had really hit me until that moment what I would have to deal with having two babies so close together but it really was a great day!

I think my next great day is coming up in the spring when both of my baby girls will graduate from high school.

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