Friends!! I feel like we have turned the corner! Life is feeling more normal.
Brynn is sleeping through the night (like from 6:30 or 7 at night on…), she is in the same room with Blake so we have our bedroom back, we are actually getting sleep so we are able to wake up in the mornings and get back into our routine of having a quiet time and getting a workout in before the day begins (note I did not say before the kids wake up because now that school is back in session, we are back to 6:15 am wakeups…ugh!), and I feel like life is coming back together. You know having a baby completely changes your life, but when you start to have glimpses of life as it was and feel capacity to do the things you used to do, IT IS HUGE!!
There are lots of things I could share about ministry and how things are going, what is happening with the kids in school, etc., but I thought I would keep it light-hearted today – light-hearted for you and heart racing for me. You see, I am going to let you in on a huge fear I have. Hi, my name is April, and I am deathly afraid of ostriches. Yes, you read that right.
How did it begin? Rewind to junior or senior year of college. Ed and I were dating (maybe even engaged at this point?) and he decided to take me on a date to Hollywild in Greenville, Sc. Hollywild is one of those places that you drive through and they have the animals running wild and free.
When you enter these places, they should seriously have signs that say “Enter at your own risk”. We are driving through, admiring everything, and we drive up behind a car that had kids in the back that weren’t strapped in and were running wild. They also had some sort of long glow sticks that they kept poking out the window. We came up on a part of the road that had an ostrich standing right beside it. Those same kids started putting the glow sticks out of the window almost right in front of the ostriches face. Umm, bad move. They stayed there for quite some time, doing this, and then they drove off. They left safe and sound, but the ostrich was not happy at all.
When Ed and I went to continue on, the ostrich stepped right into the middle of the road right in front of us, turned towards us, and started walking directly at our car. For some reason, we were driving Ed’s dad’s car instead of Ed’s explorer, so we were riding pretty low to the ground. AKA, big ostrich and little car. When he got to the car, he walked beside my window literally staring me down. By this point, I was in Ed’s seat and extremely scared. I thought for sure this huge animal who was TICKED OFF was going to jump on top of our car or break through the window. Thankfully, after very, very slowly walking by the car, he walked off. We drove off, survived to tell the tale, but I was left changed and afraid of ostriches.
Fast forward a few years…Ed and I were married and working in our hometown. I get a call from my dad (who knew about my fear) that they have a “Dirty Jobs” show on about ostriches and he thinks it would help with my fear to watch it. So, I did. Ya’ll, those ostriches were MEAN!!! They pecked at the man, they crushed their own eggs and killed their babies, and they weren’t nice to anyone. Lets just say, it didn’t help my fear but kindled the flame of fear.
So were is my fear today? I still absolutely hate ostriches. Their long necks, peaky beaks, and strong long legs are destined to kill people. I seriously feel my heart start racing and start shuddering anytime I even think of them, much less see them. Its not a made up thing…it seriously makes me freak out inside. Unfortunately, my kids know about this fear and make sure to point out EVERY ostrich in kid’s books or on TV shows. Seriously, can’t a doctor’s office find another animal to put on the wall under O besides an ostrich? Octopus maybe?
Some people are scared of closed spaces, some are scared of heights (there is a little bit of that there too!), some are scared of clowns…my achilles heal is ostriches. I hope this made you chuckle a little today and lightened your day – just know never to bring it up when you see me 🙂