Vacation time

One real regret of my life has been that we didn’t take summer vacations. Many families we knew went to Disneyland, Disney World, Six Flags in Dallas and Kansas City. Lots of people traveled to grandma’s house or to visit other relatives, but Grandma lived in the same town we did.

We always felt as though we didn’t have enough money to spend on trips and vacations, but other people who made less money than we did went on great vacations. Of course we were not racking up debt like they were.

One thing I always made an effort to do was send our children to Camp Fire Girls camp and Boy Scout camp. I wanted my two kids to learn to live off the land, to learn to make a fire, dig a latrine, and build a lean-to shelter.

The only vacation I ever remember taking in my childhood was in 1958 when we kids and Mother returned to California with her two sisters and their families. We stayed there about 3 weeks and then came back with our uncle Cecil who was moving back to Oklahoma to live.

California was like a foreign country to us little kids from Vinita, Ok. We visited Knott’s Berry Farm, but didn’t get to go to Disneyland. We went to Seal Beach where we little kids sat in swimsuits while the Pacific Ocean waves rolled up over our legs and ran crying to Mother when we became afraid of drowning.

I am planning a trip some day, a trip to beat all trips. No, I’m not going to schedule a cruise to the Bahamas or up the coast of Canada to Alaska. I’m planning my trip to heaven.

I’ve already obtained my one-way ticket aboard the Great Railway to Heaven. My ticket was bought and paid for by my dear Lord Jesus Christ, with His own blood. I’m not sure exactly when I’m going but it could be soon or it might be a long time. St. Paul said, “The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”