Ferry ride

A lot has happened since my last blog entry - family came over from the Philippines (it was the first time that we were complete in the last 5 years - GJ's family came over), my sister got married (yes, it was a beautiful ceremony!), lots of new-to-Seattle relatives who toured the area (my favorite is still the Theo Chocolate Factory tour), got my wisdom teeth pulled out (from which I am still nicely recovering, thanks to a pair of awesome dentists, Dr. Jacqueline Tuazon and Dr. Jill Brinkman), endless trips to the airport (12, to be exact). All of these moments were blog-worthy at the time, but because of time constraints and just me being dead-tired all the time, none were literally recorded. Oh, there were hundreds of photos taken, most of them hurriedly uploaded in Facebook, and some are still waiting patiently to be uploaded - but the truth is, although most pictures speak for themselves, it helps to tie a story behind them.

In addition to the whirlwind chaos of above, there were also numerous ferry rides to our home and back to Seattle, as my family and friends wanted to see our new home here in Silverdale. Of course, we are quite happy to open our home to them - that was the reason why we decided to move closer to Seattle anyway - to be able to entertain and just be plain hospitable. For the most part, we had encouraged our guests to take the ferry because it definitely was a different experience - after all, it's not usual that we get to one place to another by boat (certainly not in Manila, or in Akron, or in Yakima, where these places are relatively landlocked). Riding the ferry felt like an adventure.

Today though, it was different. I needed to ride the ferry so I can see my dentist across the Puget Sound. I had taken ferry rides before but it would usually be to show it off to other people (kind of like, hey look, it's so cool, we live in a peninsula and you get to us by boat! Take out your cameras, click, click.). Today, it felt like it was a necessary and practical mode of transportation so I can go from one place to the next. What made the experience click for me, is that even though it was just the "usual" ferry ride, it was beautifully ordinary. No fuss. I docked my car, climbed to the passenger deck, brought my book with me, sat on the deck, and for twenty-five beautiful, quiet, undisturbed, unpretentious minutes, I alternately read my book and stared at the grayish-blue body of water. I don't remember consciously thanking God for the peace and serenity of it, but the whole experience was a prayer in itself.

I docked off, still feeling enchanted. I thought, how wonderful and how gracious is our God for giving us these moments of revival even for just a short time - it is as if He has given me a peek of what is to come, to what is in store for His children for eternity.