Sunday, March 18, 2007

I was listening to the radio Friday and the morning show on my station did a call-in day. I love those days – more for topic ideas than anything else. The host had stolen this particular topic from someone else, so I don’t feel terribly awful about stealing it from her. The question was this: 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? I enjoyed listening to the various responses and subsequently came up with my own list.

I came up with ten things – because top tens are the only way to do lists, right? I was going to give you all ten this week, but some required explanation, and I didn’t want you to get tired. So for today, I present to you the first half of the top ten moments I would relive if I could.

1. The Easter Pageant. I realized the other day that Easter is soon. The whole season hasn’t been the same for me since the Easter Pageant ceased to exist. I participated from the time I was two until it ended when I was about twenty-five. I miss seeing the regulars of the cast – seeing who got married, who had a baby, who got a new hair color (boy couldn’t I have given some a run for their money there?), and who had grown up so much since last year that I didn’t even recognize them. I miss the long rehearsals in the cold Coliseum – complete with the half hour to forty five minute delay at the final one while we waited for the introductory cross to practice in the dark for the first time. I miss the musty smell of the old building and the creak of the bleachers as kids ran up and down them before rehearsal. I even miss the early morning costume and makeup call on Easter Sunday. We didn’t know that the last year would be the last year, and although I savored so many memories over the years of my participation, I’d love to have the chance to be in the pageant one more time. Most of all, I would love to relive the one performance in particular where God met me on a little bench by the wooden well. There may have been a performance going on and a couple thousand people in the room around me, but in that moment, it was just God talking to Bekah.

2. Malinda’s Going Away Party. One of my sweetest friends in elementary and junior high school was an Amish girl named Malinda. The Amish stop going to school after eighth grade, so one day near the end of the our eighth grade year, Mom helped my group of friends and me plan a surprise going away party for her. Our class had an outdoor field trip that day, where we marched down to the fairgrounds and wrapped up our Civil War unit with all sorts of projects. By the end of the day, we were all sweaty, sticky, and sunburned, but no one missed the party. Dad let all my friends in the house to hide in our basement, and Mom and I brought Malinda home for what she thought was just a night of having dinner with me. Malinda was completely shocked when everyone yelled “Surprise!” and we had the best time eating pizza, watching TV, and giving her gifts. We even broke tradition (don’t tell) and took a few pictures – which are very precious to me now since I’ve not seen her in over a decade. The evening was one of my best memories with my junior high/high school friends.

3. High School Graduation. You’ll never get me to say I want to relive high school in its entirety, but I did love my graduation day, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I knew the day would be busy, but I also knew it was a day I’d only experience once, so I prayed specifically that morning that I would just enjoy the celebration and make vivid memories. And I did. I signed a song in my church that morning as a tribute to my church family, I loved every minute of my graduation ceremony – despite the heat of the gym and the duct tape colored robes, and had the greatest time at my open house. I enjoyed talking to everyone who came through to see me that day. That evening I went back to school for the seniors’ Final Fling and had a great last evening of memories with my friends. High school wasn’t perfect, but that day was pretty near perfect in my mind.

4. My First Publication. I was entering my junior year in high school when I sold my first article. I remember standing in my bedroom, getting ready on one of the last days of summer, when the phone rang, and on the other end was the editor of Youthwalk – a devotional magazine for teens. She told me she’d received the freelance article I’d submitted and had chosen it for publication. I called my Mom at work and we both cried. She didn’t even know I’d sent anything in. I had no idea that was the beginning of a long writing adventure, so I’d love to go back and embrace even more of it. As a side note, one thing I do remember about that phone call was that the editor had an extreme southern accent and for days, when I would talk about writing, this southern accent came out of me. I guess I thought writers needed to have an accent.

5. Washington D. C. Vacation. I believe it was the summer between my first and second grade year that my family went on vacation to Washington D.C. It is the only vacation I remember going on with more than just my parents. My sister Julie joined us for this one and we drove our little Ford station wagon with the carrier on top. This was before the days of child safety seats or seat belts, and I rode all the way there and back, sprawled out in the way, way back of the station wagon, with all my books around me. Mom even came up with a “gift schedule” where she would pull out a travel gift every so often (when we’d reached a certain time or location) so that I had something new to help pass the long hours in the car. But anyway, I would like to relive this one because one day we were having lunch at the Capitol Building with a Representative Dad knew from his job of chaperoning senior trips each year. During lunch, the Representative asked Mom and Dad if I could go with him for a few minutes, and they agreed. He took me onto the floor of the House of Representatives and allowed me to push a button that cast a vote for something. I had no idea what was happening, but when I got back to the table and informed my government-teacher father that I had voted, he couldn’t believe it. I wish I could go back and understand just how rare that opportunity was for me!

So there you have it…the first half! I’ll be back next week with five more for you.