Stories have been swirling in my head recently because we
are renewing our wedding vows this year and I have been sharing some memories
with friends and family on social media.
Some memories are fun and others, not so much. However, each story molds us into who we are,
and we hopefully learn from each of them.
Today I wanted to share one specific one with you to make
you smile and understand the reality that couples experience every day. Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. This story will hopefully rip that Band-Aid
off as I share a moment of craziness that we eventually learned to laugh at
later. This event occurred before we
were married but honestly was one of the major moments that made me realize this
man was for me and serious about me.
We drove to visit ‘the child’, as we called her, about five
hours away to spend time with her while she was away at college. I have called her ‘the child’ since she was
probably a pre-teen. I used to call her
the baby, but one day she came to me and said, “I am not the baby anymore.” So,
to oblige her concerns, she was then known as ‘the child’ from that day
forth. I had co-workers ask me once if ‘the
child’ had a name because that was all I called her. I laughed and said yes, but she was dubbed
the child so many years ago, we just went with it. 😊
The trip was an uneventful one driving to New Jersey from upstate
New York. We enjoyed spending quality time
with our daughter as we went shopping, out to eat, and just sat around laughing
sharing stories. When it was time to
leave, we decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back home. The mall had a decent seafood restaurant, so
my husband and I said our goodbyes to our daughter and headed to the restaurant
for a quick meal.
We grabbed a booth and relived our day while waiting for the
waitress. I was hungry after wandering
all over the mall, so we ordered clams for an appetizer and some seafood. The clams arrived at our table faster than I
expected. As we started diving into them
something didn’t seem right. The clams
were not the kind I was used to. Long neck
clams are different looking than the steamers we normally eat. At first, we joked about the different clams
wondering if we got what we ordered. We then
both shrugged it off and continued to eat.
As I dunked my clams into the
warm salty butter, I noticed they tasted different. Must be the type of clam, I thought to
myself. I asked my husband if his tasted
funny and he agreed it was most likely due to the different type of clam. The rest of the meal was uneventful and we got
ready and headed back on the road.
Within the hour, I realized that the different tasting clam
wasn’t supposed to taste different. My
stomach started to make a noise that I was unfamiliar with. The next few hours began what I can only
describe as a hostile takeover within my body.
Remember I was not married at that time, so I was trying to keep my best
foot forward. That moment of my life was
not going to be my best foot. It was not
going to be my best anything.
What transpired over the next few hours could only be
explained in detail by a doctor or in a medical journal. There were things that happened in that car
that I can’t take back and definitely can’t write down on paper. Suffice it to say, food poisoning is a real
thing.
Poor Carl could only drive as fast as he could back home. He couldn’t do anything to fix the
situation. There was nowhere to go and
nothing to take. I just needed to be in
bed and work through the monster that was trying to escape my body.
You know you can talk yourself into just about anything. Carl was sweating as he believed he was going to get sick too. He started to ‘feel’ sick. He ate the same clams that I did. How long would it take before he succumbs to the ‘evil clams’? If he got as sick as I did neither one of us would be able to drive back. He continued the internal dialogue as he counted down the hours and miles driving on I90 as fast as he could.
Thank GOD I was the only one who got the bad clam. Carl never got sick. He almost talked himself into it though. As he drove faster, my body violently protested
the ride. It went on for hours. When we finally arrived home, I excused myself
and decided to hide in the bathroom for the next hour. There was no taking that day back. All I could think was, “You can’t make this
up!” It took a few days before I was
back to normal physically. My pride
would never be the same though.
I walked away from that incident with two thoughts. First - never eat the food you question
before you start. Second – This man has
to really love me to go through that event and still be able to speak to
me…
It took years before I was able to have clams again. We laugh
about it, now. We will forever call that
moment the “clam incident.”
We have to remember not to take ourselves so seriously. If we do, God will allow events in our lives
to fix that. Like a small clam…
Genesis 21:6
Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who
hears about this will laugh with me.”
Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is
good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Ecclesiastes 3:4
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a
time to dance,
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