Finally the day of departure arrived. Daddy worked long, twelve hour days but he got us all up bright and early and we took off in a car packed full of supplies and four sisters. Now, here is the clincher. We had been on the road a couple hours with me already asking “how much further is it?” and all the sisters complaining about being crowded and could my parents take me up front with them? Dad even offered me a nickel if I could be quiet for fifteen minutes (this may have scarred me for life!) and I complied to prove I could.

Suddenly Mom broke the silence, “Mark, I just realized that when I shut the electricity off for the house to save money that the chest freezer went off too. Every thing will thaw out and have to be thrown out in a week’s time!”

And here is the wisdom: as Daddy turned the car around he patted my Mom’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “God works in mysterious ways. Perhaps this was His way of slowing us down to protect us from harm. We will just trust in that and be grateful.” And so a five hour trip ended up taking about nine hours but we arrived safely. It was one of our best vacations and also one that we teased Mom about forever.

I have thought of that day many times through the years, as I took a wrong turn, forgot something and had to backtrack, etc. It was a good lesson to learn young, a unique way perhaps, to look at God’s love and timely interventio

Rancho de Chimayo

Many years ago (1973 to be exact) I was temporarily living in the US with my parents while my father was working over here. I was 18 and we had the opportunity that summer to travel around a little. We were living in Oklahoma City at the time so our trip basically included exploring Texas and New Mexico. Although I enjoyed Texas it was New Mexico that really stuck in my mind as I think it did with all of us.

On one of those days around lunchtime we happened to chance upon a restaurant in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. We’d been taking back roads as they’re always more interesting than highways. We decided to stop for lunch. The name of the restaurant was the Rancho de Chimayo. The food was excellent and after lunch we went on our way.

I didn’t realize st the time that this would be the last family trip I would ever take with my father as I left home and married not much later and he died at the age of 50 not long after my first son was born.

I am now married to an American girl and living in the US. The year before last we decided on a trip to Chimayo after I explained how strong my memories were of the place. The restaurant has expanded and is now much better known than it was when I first went and deservedly so. The food is awesome. For all of you who think you know what Mexican cuisine is like having visited any of the many big franchises spread across the US think again. There really is no comparison. It’s like comparing MickeyD with a 5 star restaurant.

The Rancho now has limited accomodation across the road from the reastaurant and so we stayed there as the center of the trip. We explored many of the places that I had originally been to in 1973 and the feeling was really weird. The last time I had stood in that spot my father had stood alongside me. Happy and sad memories all at the same time.

It’s a fact of life, I guess, that when our parents are alive and we’re still growing into adulthood that we never think of them “not being there.” But of course sometimes they do pass on and unexpectedly so. Standing in those same places from the past made me think of all the things I should have said to him and didn’t. My father knew I loved him as I knew he loved me. But did I ever tell him that as much as I should have? No. Almost certainly not.

As the words of the song say… “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Never pass by the opportunity to tell someone you love them.