This was the kind of day I’m glad is over. I’m completely exhausted, inside and out. I feel like someone pulled my plug and I just want to curl up in a fetal position and sleep. Kaleb and I went to Norway’s largest water park today while Kory worked with Hallvard on replacing some of the roof on the old house where Kory’s father was born (see photo). I was worried about Kory being up on the roof today, but I should have been worried about me. I thought I would have fun. I thought the water park near here would be like Silverwood in Idaho where there is a nice wave pool, a relaxing river current, some fun water slides and a good time to be had by all. But that just wasn’t the case. Every attraction was like staring death right in the face. It didn’t go well with me, and a few times I really wanted to back out before literally taking the plunge, but Kaleb insisted. This is what I do for love. I haven’t been that freaked out in a long time. It also didn’t help that I had flashbacks to my near drowning experience on the Oregon Coast when I was 15. (We got caught in a rip tide and the kid I was with died. It really was a miracle I survived.)
One “ride” today was on an inflatable cushion and after going through twists and turns in a pitch black tube, we ended up in a big drain looking thing that reminded me of the vortex where one can drop a coin and it spins around and around until it finally drops in the bucket below. Only it was us, dropping down into the drain like in the movie “Flushed Away.” That one wasn’t too bad. The one I nearly lost it was called the Half Pipe and it looked like a giant skateboard park only water was gushing down from both sides of the big U and we dropped straight down from one side sitting on an inflatable and then swooshed up the other side and back and forth we went until we were sucked down the drain. I wouldn’t do that one again for anything.
I thought I’d like the relaxing float on an innertube down the river current, but as I found out within seconds after entering, it went way faster than what I’d experienced in other parks. I slipped off my tube and someone smacked my face and only then did I realize I was wearing my glasses. They flew off my face and were lost in the current. They were the only glasses I had left as the others I brought with me to Norway have already broken. I cried. I panicked. I talked to the staff and they just shook their head and said they were lost. I tried to explain I couldn’t drive home without them but they had no sympathy. I was desperate. I asked if I could wait until the park closed and try to find them without the current and they assured me that six hours of swirling around in the river, there wouldn’t be anything left of them. So I did the only thing I could do – I prayed. I called Kory and asked him to pray, too. I prayed God would allow someone to find them before they broke to pieces, or that God would heal my eyes so I wouldn’t need glasses. All I could think about was a month of sightseeing Europe and not being able to see a thing. We won’t be in any place long enough to get new glasses as no one here has the advantages we do in America of getting a new pair in one hour. It takes weeks. Within minutes after praying with Kory, Kaleb came running over with my glasses! Someone right next to him found them and yelled out they found some glasses. Kaleb knew they were mine. It was a miracle they were found, a miracle he was right there to get them (they may have never found their way back to me as there was no “lost and found”) and it was a miracle they weren’t broken. One side of the frame was slightly bent but the glasses weren’t even scratched. I cried again out of pure joy, then had to sit down for a while as my body was a limp noodle. I hated the river after that, but still went around and around that football field sized “ride” with Kaleb – but I left my glasses in my backpack. My body never fully recovered, especially since we had to go on the rides one more time.
Kory had a much more satisfying day working at Slaattehaugen – having a bonding moment with his dad’s memory and Hallvard. Hallvard teaches carpentry at the very school where Kory’s dad learned how to be one. Kory was thinking about his dad running around this place as a child and all the things he might have done. This farm really is like being on a movie set – going back to some significant place in history and reliving some of the memories – except Kory doesn’t have many memories here. There is a strong connection nonetheless and it’s idyllic in every way.
I was so thankful to get back to Slaattehaugen I could have kissed the ground. Kory “grilled” dinner for everyone tonight and once again we had a picture perfect evening in the shade of the old house, sitting outside talking on this warm summer evening watching yet another gorgeous sunset just before midnight. It almost felt like a perfect world, until I remembered the day.
One “ride” today was on an inflatable cushion and after going through twists and turns in a pitch black tube, we ended up in a big drain looking thing that reminded me of the vortex where one can drop a coin and it spins around and around until it finally drops in the bucket below. Only it was us, dropping down into the drain like in the movie “Flushed Away.” That one wasn’t too bad. The one I nearly lost it was called the Half Pipe and it looked like a giant skateboard park only water was gushing down from both sides of the big U and we dropped straight down from one side sitting on an inflatable and then swooshed up the other side and back and forth we went until we were sucked down the drain. I wouldn’t do that one again for anything.
I thought I’d like the relaxing float on an innertube down the river current, but as I found out within seconds after entering, it went way faster than what I’d experienced in other parks. I slipped off my tube and someone smacked my face and only then did I realize I was wearing my glasses. They flew off my face and were lost in the current. They were the only glasses I had left as the others I brought with me to Norway have already broken. I cried. I panicked. I talked to the staff and they just shook their head and said they were lost. I tried to explain I couldn’t drive home without them but they had no sympathy. I was desperate. I asked if I could wait until the park closed and try to find them without the current and they assured me that six hours of swirling around in the river, there wouldn’t be anything left of them. So I did the only thing I could do – I prayed. I called Kory and asked him to pray, too. I prayed God would allow someone to find them before they broke to pieces, or that God would heal my eyes so I wouldn’t need glasses. All I could think about was a month of sightseeing Europe and not being able to see a thing. We won’t be in any place long enough to get new glasses as no one here has the advantages we do in America of getting a new pair in one hour. It takes weeks. Within minutes after praying with Kory, Kaleb came running over with my glasses! Someone right next to him found them and yelled out they found some glasses. Kaleb knew they were mine. It was a miracle they were found, a miracle he was right there to get them (they may have never found their way back to me as there was no “lost and found”) and it was a miracle they weren’t broken. One side of the frame was slightly bent but the glasses weren’t even scratched. I cried again out of pure joy, then had to sit down for a while as my body was a limp noodle. I hated the river after that, but still went around and around that football field sized “ride” with Kaleb – but I left my glasses in my backpack. My body never fully recovered, especially since we had to go on the rides one more time.
Kory had a much more satisfying day working at Slaattehaugen – having a bonding moment with his dad’s memory and Hallvard. Hallvard teaches carpentry at the very school where Kory’s dad learned how to be one. Kory was thinking about his dad running around this place as a child and all the things he might have done. This farm really is like being on a movie set – going back to some significant place in history and reliving some of the memories – except Kory doesn’t have many memories here. There is a strong connection nonetheless and it’s idyllic in every way.
I was so thankful to get back to Slaattehaugen I could have kissed the ground. Kory “grilled” dinner for everyone tonight and once again we had a picture perfect evening in the shade of the old house, sitting outside talking on this warm summer evening watching yet another gorgeous sunset just before midnight. It almost felt like a perfect world, until I remembered the day.
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