roller coasters and apple trees

This summer I had the pleasure of taking my wife and four kids on a fun, kid-focused holiday in the Netherlands. We spent two days in Efteling amusement park, a day at Beekse Bergen Safari Park, and a couple of days swimming. We tented and about half of us got cold and wet from a heavy rain on our first night. Hurray for the camp owner who dried our sleeping bags for us.

My kids loved Efteling. My son rode Vogel Rok, an indoor roller coaster, about 10 times. My two younger daughters both found some of the rides too scary (and if you don’t think a carousel can be scary then you haven’t ridden the steam carousel). But we all had fun and didn’t run out of things to enjoy in our two days in the park. Another day we enjoyed walking in the safari park. They also provided us with a nice boat ride through the park. But the highlight came when we were in our own car on the driving route. We watched a cheetah cross the road a few cars in front of us. We saw some hooligan camels trap a tiny car by standing in front of it and to the left and right (the line of cars that followed insured the car could not back up). But neither of those were the top moment of the day. That came when a giraffe... actually, I think I will make you email me if you want to know.

It was a great holiday, but not a relaxing holiday. Making sure four kids ages 2, 5, 7, and 9 are healthy, rested, fed, and having fun is hard work. But one thing any parent can tell you is that some of our greatest joys come from watching our kids enjoy life.

A few days ago just as our summer (which in addition to holding our little holiday was also full of conferences) was ending and school was just a couple days from beginning we walked to the center of Gent. We had a little shopping to do (back to school time, you know) so we walked down the Veldstraat (Gent’s most famous street of shops). A little after 6:00 when the shops all closed we had a picnic near Gravensteen Castle. On the walk home the kids were tired. They were a little frustrated, too, because we didn’t buy everything they wanted (and I suppose their mother and father were a little frustrated, too, because we still had shopping left to do).

There is a small orchard near the Bijloke, not far from our house. There is no playground equipment and usually no people, either. It is lower than the street and sidewalk, and when you go down the steps it is like walking into your private garden. There are a few apple and pear trees among others. Here my children (and their mother and father) forgot all about the days stresses. There was running and jumping, hiding behind trees, taking of silly photos, and picking of apples.

Picking apples was the tricky part. Most of the apples were still green. And they were also too high to reach. The system that worked was me lifting my 7 year old daughter over my head on my fully extended arms (picture figure skating). She would drop apples to my son. We baked (and ate) apple crisp the next day.

Back in South Dakota we had two amazing apple trees. We had the sweetest apples around. And they were big and crunchy like an apple should be. Although the apples in that orchard in the city were not ripe and not as good as the apples we carefully tended back in our days of country living, they still allowed me to fondly remember something great. It was also interesting for me to think about the fun we had on holiday (with all the required budgeting, planning, and effort) and compare it to the joy we experienced in the simplicity of the orchard. There are two lessons for me in that orchard.

Lesson 1: Sometimes the special moments in life are special because they remind us of something. In my case I was reminded of two homes—one that I loved and another for which I long.

Lesson 2: Joy is available to us in the simple moments of each day. It doesn’t require batteries, agendas, budgeting, or even roller coasters.