It was five years ago.
My husband Dean gave me a birthday present to see the profoundly conscious singing sensation Lisa Gerrard at the Humphreys Hotel in San Diego, California. It’s a beautiful hotel, with an outdoor concert shell right on the bay.
Next to loving Alanis Morissette, I LOVE Lisa Gerrard. When Lisa opens her mouth to sing, a choir materializes. Hearing her…well, there’s nothing like it on Earth.
Anyway, we took our daughter Eliah (who was 8 yrs old at the time) and thought we’d visit SeaWorld, too. While waiting in line at the airline ticket counter to check our one and only bag, I had this nagging feeling to take it on the plane with us.
We ALWAYS check our bags, but this time something was telling me not to.
“Let’s take the bag on the plane,” I said to Dean.
“We’re here. Let’s just check it,” he replied.
Okay, I let it go and checked the bag.
Ninety minutes later we landed in San Diego ready and excited to start our Lisa Gerrard and Seaworld adventure. We waited by the baggage carousel for our bags. Everyone got theirs…except us. We sighed and filed a report at baggage claim then headed to the hotel to check in, hoping the bag would show up sooner or later.
We got a ride from the hotel to SeaWorld to have some fun and made our way to the main attraction—Shamu the Whale! It’s a HUGE swimming arena surrounded by bleachers.
“You GOTTA sit here. It’s the best view,” said a dad who was just leaving the bleachers with his kids.
I looked around and saw the seats were all wet.
My gut said, “No thanks, I’ll sit further up the bleachers,” but I looked at Dean and Eliah who were already getting seats and saying, “Come on, Mom! This’ll be fun!”
Just then Shamu shot out of the water like a missile. The crowd cheered, oohed and ahhed.
“Oh NOOO,” I screamed, as Shamu plummeted back into the water, a tsunami of seawater exploded all over us.
Eliah and Dean laughed hysterically. We were drenched. I admit, it was fun, and I lightened up. As we left the arena, the sun was setting and the air chilled. Brrr. And no change of clothes! Eliah’s eyes lit up as she caught site of the Water Flume, a roller coaster that drops into the water. I decided to sit this one out and let Eliah and Dean get even more soaked on their own. My job would be to take a photo just at the moment they both hit the water.
I positioned myself perfectly along the railing to get the best picture.
No one else was around and it was crowded! The spot was so perfect that I couldn’t believe my luck. I aimed my camera and waited as Dean and Eliah, in the front coaster car, chugged their way to the top, on their way to the drop. I dismissed a nagging question in my head, “Hey, why am I standing in a puddle? Shhh…be ready for the picture.”
Down they went, arms in the air, laughter, screams as Dean and Eliah’s roller coaster slammed into the water…I pressed the button…CLICK…
Another sound followed the Click…WHOOOSH!…as a wall of water blasted me. Broadsided, soaked, wetter, colder.
So this is why there’s no one around me and I’m standing in a puddle! The joke, apparently, was on me. Again I dismissed my intuition.
Tired, soggy and chilled to the bone, the three of us headed back to the hotel for a bite to eat and to wait for our bag to arrive.
Eliah started to have a mini tantrum in the hotel restaurant. My tantrum was close behind. We ordered tea just to warm our hands. We shivered as Eliah tried to figure out what to eat.
“My body tells me to get the pancakes, but my head says to get the grilled cheese. I can’t decide and I’m cold, Mommee, and the waitress didn’t give me a crayon for my word puzzle on the place mat!”
I asked the waitress for a crayon and inhaled deeply. Dean continued to call baggage claim for news about our luggage.
“Honey. It’s not there,”I said curtly. “You’ve called 8 times. They’ll call us when it comes.”
My pending tantrum was audible in my tone. I exhaled.
What I wanted to say was, “I SHOULD’VE LISTENED TO MY GUT AND TAKEN THE BAG ON THE PLANE.”
It wasn’t Dean’s fault. I should have listened to my intuition.
Making a decision is challenging; the primary reason being fear of making the wrong decision. You might ask others for their opinion or let them decide for you. But if the outcome isn’t to your liking, you might get annoyed with them or chide yourself for not listening to yourself to begin with.
I could tell Eliah was on the brink of losing it.
I looked at her and said, “Sweetie. Sometimes we get stuck in a place where it seems there are no options. And you think no matter what you choose it’ll be the wrong decision. But I think the thing to do is to just make a choice because you can always start over. If you like, order both things on the menu.”
Simply giving Eliah the choice to have it all calmed her. She sipped some peppermint tea and ordered the pancakes.
Dean took my hand and said, “I need to learn to trust your intuition…or maybe my own?”
At that moment the waitress came by and handed Eliah a crayon. We all looked at it and instantly burst out laughing.
The crayon was white.
“Mom!” She said. “The paper’s white and the crayon’s white, too. That’s crazy!”
I took the crayon and held it up and said, “Eliah. When you have a hard time trusting your own intuition or making a decision, imagine life is handing you a White Crayon. From there, your choices are limitless. No matter how much you draw or write, you can’t ever make a mistake.”
Our bag arrived at the hotel just as we finished eating. We went to our room, changed out of our wet clothes, warmed up and headed for the outdoor concert. We took our seats under the stars (and under a blanket)! Lisa Gerrard appeared onstage looking ethereal. She began to sing…and within minutes, the crowd was silently sobbing, myself included. I couldn’t contain it. Her voice gently flooded my being, bathing me in Divine, White Luminous Light, penetrating my stuck places–the places that stop me from connecting to Spirit. Lisa handed me a white crayon and gave me permission to start all over again.
2013 is your year to start over again, too. Happy New Year to all. When in doubt, pick up a white crayon and smile. Go within and listen to your intuition and trust in your decisions.
Elaine Marolakos Edelson is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire, a blogging community created by Annie Jennings.
