Does your family like to tell the same handful of stories over and over and over again until everyone can recite them beginning to end? Mine sure does. And so does Mark’s.One story that always makes me laugh is about the day Mark was born. See, he was born just 16 months after his brother – he’s what we call a “surprise” baby. (Not an “oops,” not a “mistake” – a pleasant surprise! Well, that’s what I call him. I don’t think I want to know what his mother called him, especially when she had two babies in diapers or, years later, two teenagers in trouble!)
Despite the relatively short span of time between my brother-in-law’s birth and my husband’s, it seems that the hospital had gone through some changes during that time. The most notable change: a speed bump in the parking lot.
A speed bump that my father-in-law found going top speed, rushing his in-labor-almost-gonna-have-this-baby-NOW wife to the emergency room.
A speed bump that we still hear about, at least once a year.
Unless you count sports plays, my in-laws don’t really analyze anything. Lucky for them, I do. And I think that speed bump represents more than just a pile of concrete in the parking lot of St. Luke’s. I think it represents the funny little way God has of slowing us down and making us pay attention.
When we were dating, I noticed that every time Mark would drive over a speed bump in a parking lot, he’d grumble, “I hate speed bumps.” Ev-er-y time. Since then it’s been a little joke between us that when we drive over speed bumps one of us has to say it. Not because we really care so much about the jarring effects those mini-hills have on our car (okay, so Mark cares), but because it’s one of our “things.”
I know it’s not funny to anyone else. But it makes us chuckle.
Thinking about that, I wonder about how many inside jokes and deeper understandings and rich experiences we’ve gained because of life’s speed bumps. And I think about how much we would have missed without those reminders to slow down and pay attention.
Maybe speed bumps aren’t so bad after all.
One thing I know for sure – I am eternally grateful that God chose to give my in-laws a speed bump 32 years ago in the form of a third son. He is the love of my life, my best friend, my favorite person, a good man, and the best daddy Photobaby could ask for.
Happy birthday, Mark. I love you.
