Well, my piece this week is focused on change and adjustment. How well we adapt to all the unexpected changes that drift or slam into our lives. All the events described took place with 24 hours.

Here in central Florida, we don’t have seasons like folks up north. Well, unless you count when Burdine’s Department Store changes the color of the plastic leaves with which they decorate their windows!

I remember growing up in Iowa. When Labor Day arrived, the lake turned bitterly cold. Seemed like it happened overnight. Winter clothes came out, summer clothes were put away. No real need for adjustments, it just happened. Memorial Day, the lake heated back up, almost like magic.

Well, we had our change a few days ago. The tail end of a northern cold front blew through. The nighttime temperature plunged to the upper 40’s. For the first time, we switched our thermostat from air conditioner to heater. Everyone in the house came together and marvelled about that first smell of heat coming through the ducts of a system that normally conducts only refrigerated air. However, by 10:00 am the next morning, the unit was pumping out cold air again and sucking the humidity out of our inner atmosphere. We usually experience this rapid change from needing a heater to demanding air conditioning two or three times a year.

The best way we have of keeping track of the seasons, is watching the increased traffic flow headed south on I-75. We have lots of names for these people. We call them Snow Birds, Winter Visitors, and Cash Cows. Others have far less complimentary names. The feelings are not based on any personal bias for the most part. We just find that a little trip across town that took 15 minutes in the summer, takes two hours in the winter (okay, not really two hours, but it seems like it while sitting at one red light after another). We all have to really guard against road rage and all that kind of stuff! I personally love the tourists for the most part. It also makes me feel less guilty when I head north in the summer and plug up their roads playing tourist! (grin)

What’s my point? Well, I didn’t know I had one to share with y’all until I went to AAA with my grandson, Ben. Keep in mind, this happened on a day that we were alternating between needing heat and cold at home. Ben’s dad, our son, Tim, works very hard all year round taking care of people’s lawns, cutting down trees, etc. He puts in long days of heavy physical labor. He and his family are heading to northern Georgia to spend a week with Tim’s sister, our daughter, Kathleen over Thanksgiving.

Pat and I decided we’d treat them all to a visit to Dollywood. It’s such a clean, wholesome place. AAA has discount tickets to these places. Follow me now. I may get a bit intricate, but I do have a point to all this. I called AAA on Friday, October 29th. I asked if they had tickets for Dollywood and the price. The lady said that they had tickets. I wasn’t able to get there until the next Monday. I confidently went in the place with Ben. We went up to the very same lady to whom I’d spoken. She said, “I’m sorry. We don’t have tickets to Dollywood. Our last day of sale was last Friday, the 29th.”

I got this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. I only had so much money with which to buy these tickets. Now, I thought I’d have to pay full price. What to do. Plans went through several changes. I tried to move heaven and earth to get AAA to re-order tickets for me. Turns out that contractually, they couldn’t. Besides, the old tickets wouldn’t have worked if I’d purchased them on the 29th. There was a special ticket for the holiday season and they were priced differently and not discounted.

Finally, as a last resort, I called Dollywood directly and talked to a lovely southern lady with an accent that literally dripped honey. Her name was Loella. She patiently listened to my story of grief and then informed me that the holiday tickets were the same price as the discounted tickets would have been at AAA. Why? Because the water rides were shut down! Nobody wanted to go on the water rides in November in the Smokey Mountains anyway.

• In real life, we’re constantly faced with changes.
• Some of these changes are quite predictable; others jump out of the bushes and ambush us.
• How we react to unexpected change can give us a pretty good picture of ourselves.
• With the Lord’s help, we can certainly learn to lean on Him and ride the ups and downs with less tension and overreaction.
• I can’t begin to tell you the entire story of the ups and downs of the Dollywood ticket experience. Just take my word for it: It was a genuine roller-coaster ride of huge proportions! (grin)

Wanna comment? Use the “Leave a Reply” box below. Your conclusions are often so much better than mine! Please share!

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