Romantic Moments -Caves, Bats, and Stars

Romantic Moments – It has been a long summer of all work and no play so, when we got a chance to head to the country, out of the city, we jumped at it. My wife, as usual arranged the whole thing. She has a wonderful way of figuring out the details and following schedules. I love her for that, and so much more. Of course I haven’t told her so in much too long. It’s time for that to change.

The drive is long and interrupted several times with a variety of occurrences which we smilingly refer to as, “just part of the adventure.” We’ve agreed that when things go wrong on our trips, as well as in our lives, it is “all part of the adventure.” I think it was probably James Dobson who taught us that families are brought closer through the little detours like running out of gas, untimely rainstorms, no hot water in hotel rooms and the like. Thus, we try pretty hard to put on a pleasant face for each other. I’m so fortunate that my wife shares my desire to live this way. In fact, she is a much more optimistic person than I have ever been. I know that she is passing this along to my daughter, which makes me love her even more.

We make it there after dark and find the hotel. She’s booked us in a very reasonable and very large room. It’s good to be here. We are both hoping to take advantage of the vacation time and enjoy some late night romance together. Traveling with a very excited 4 year old makes that a bit difficult as anyone can imagine. Anyway, despite our best attempts, our keyed up child stays awake much longer than we expect. Thus, we fall asleep laying close together, but not inter-twined.

The next day is a wonderful whirlwind of activities. We are blessed viewing God’s awesome creation in ways many people forget about. We travel 800 feet below the earth’s surface and explore the incredible beauty of deep and endless caverns. Being away from the routine brings us so much closer and I work hard to grab my wife’s hand as often as I can. I know she appreciates this, and I know it reminds me to be open, and vulnerable to her.

As evening falls, the three of us enjoy the awesome sight of the daily flight of 400,000 bats leaving their cave and emerging into the dusky sky to seek food. We stand in awe, holding each other as we watch the apparently endless whirlwind of bats thread their way into the sky. Even our daughter is awed. God is so great, and His creatures so mysterious and wonderful.

Loving and glorifying God must be an aphrodisiac. I’m thinking to myself as we travel back to the hotel room. I am excited that we will soon be together…as long as our little one goes to sleep as planned.

We grab a bite to eat. It is late and we have the opportunity to return to the site of the bat-flight and watch a meteor shower. I am so tired but, she wants us to try going back up to see if we can find a parking space. We’ve never “camped” in our large vehicle before, but, having an SUV has it’s advantages. We drive back up to the makeshift camp site and travel the rows to find a place to park. Low and behold, despite being very late, we find a perfect spot, tucked in at the very end of a row.

Little one is asleep so we move her from her seat and into the back where we have created our makeshift bed. Setting up our chairs, we sit close, watching God’s glorious sky. The meteor’s are frequent and must be large. They streak across the sky, leaving bright, long trails. We are in silence and I begin to feel like a teenager on a date in a movie theater. We kiss passionately for perhaps the first time in many months. Our hands roam and we agree to move into the SUV for greater privacy, and more romantic moments.

Quietly, lovingly, passionately we love each other, under God’s glorious sky and above His glorious caverns. I tell my wife what I should tell her every day, and vow to do so more often. Our brief vacation was full of adventure. Here’s to SUV camping. My wife and I saw caves, bats, stars, meteors, and we made our own fireworks. We shared many romantic moments.