I Almost Forgot to Write About Jean

This would be completely unacceptable, because I promised her I would.

So...  some of you have heard the story about Splash Mountain.  I'm just going to admit, right now, that I was a little put off that someone else's Splash Mountain picture became the focus of the media only days after our little adventure, but whatever.  We'll all frown next time.

What I neglected to report was that after our refreshing plunge, Sara and I reached what could only be described as slap happy.  We got in line for the Jungle Cruise, because... you know... it only makes sense to subject yourself to corny jokes, in the middle of the night, when you're already pretty funny...

It took about three seconds for a sweet, older lady to determine that the two women behind her in line (um... us) must certainly be drunk.  In her defense, she had no idea that we are good Nazarenes, and we were laughing about everything.  I think she asked at least half a dozen times what we had been drinking.  She was not convinced when we told her only frozen lemonade and water.  She asked us where we were from, and we responded with conflicting answers.  This only added to her entertainment, because she misunderstood and thought we had met, for the first time, that morning, as opposed to understanding that we had intentionally made travel plans to meet at the airport.  As our conversation went on, it got better and better.  By the time she learned that we had left seven children at home to travel to Disney World by ourselves, she couldn't take much more.  She asked, "How old are they?"  After listing the ages of all of the children, I assured her that they have competent fathers.  Then we told her that we ate cupcakes for lunch.  She wanted to know what the children ate.  We explained that we had no idea.  We made a joke about the Disney safety precaution sign that said to supervise children.  I said, "We don't have to do that, because our children aren't here!"  I think Jean finally determined that it was better that we had left the children at home.  She threatened to call our husbands.  She asked a Jungle Cruise cast member if there is a Disney jail.  He threatened to detain us in It's a Small World.  We got control of ourselves long enough to board the boat.

At some point, we realized that Jean was all alone.  Originally, I thought she belonged to the family in front of us, but she didn't.  It's sort of crazy that you can find lonely people even at the happiest place on earth.  I mean, I really have no idea.  She might have been traveling with family or friends or a travel group.  They may have been spread throughout the park or waiting for her to reconnect after her trip into the jungle.  But, at least for a few moments, she was alone... until she wasn't... because two over-the-top, exceedingly silly mothers without children had joined her in line, joined her on the ride, laughed all the way through it...

When we disembarked, I couldn't help myself.  I had to have a selfie with Jean.  We took several, because it was dark.  It's a terrible picture.  She was absolutely enamored by the capability.  As it turns out, I am super talented at talking people into taking their first selfies... with me... come on, it's a life skill...

I told her that I'm a blogger.  I told her that I was going to write about her.  I asked her name and she gave me what she thought was her email address.  In the interest of privacy, I'm not going to post it here, but truly, friends, it was so generic there is absolutely no possible way that this is actually her e-mail address.  I am tempted to send the selfie, just in case...  When Jean walked around the corner, Sara and I doubled over in laughter.  I said, "I think we just ministered to her."  Sara said, "I think she just ministered to us!"  And she was right.  Absolutely right.

Hebrews 13:2, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it" (NIV).

This has me thinking...  I wonder how often we miss the blessing of having people run through our lives, even if only for a moment.  I highly doubt I will ever run across Jean again.  It's sad, really, because she was so much fun!  My life is better for having met her!  I should talk to strangers more often...

L.