I turned a little rebel – but I did it with good intentions, so there’s that! You see, my youngest brother phoned me to tell me he wanted to plan a trip “home” to North Dakota. I haven’t seen him or his bride in a few years so I was loud when I yelled, “Yes!”
One problem, that husband of mine and I had already committed to be in Sturgis, South Dakota for the Harley Davidson Rally during the week brother had planned. To all of you reading this – the fix would be easy. Just invite him to Sturgis, too. They live and work highly professional jobs in Washington state. They’re praise and worship leaders in their raise to praise church.
(Inject evil laugh) – I invited them along and they agreed. Husband and I took off from ND while brother and wife took off from Washington. We planned to meet Friday early afternoon in Rapid City, SD where we were all staying. They booked their hotel and we, ours.
After the “must stop and do all the touristy things in Wall, SD” stop – we meandered our way to Rapid. Lo and behold, their hotel was like 50 steps away from our front door. I was dressed in the appropriate attire of Sturgis. Now, before you scream at this column – I only used the word “appropriate” because just like going to Disneyland has a dress vibe – so too does Sturgis. I knocked on my brother’s hotel room door. Oh, I was glad to see him alright! I reached in for a hug and while I did I asked, “Are you ready to go?” He answered, “Yup. I just need to grab my backpack.” I was confused by his answer. I reached over to hug his wife.
He’s my youngest brother and I raised him so I had no qualms in asking him, “Are you going to wear that shirt?” I put the emphasis on the word, “that” which may have made the delivery of my question sound a bit judgmental. I confess to that. His answer was confident. He said, “Yes, Jodi! I bought this shirt just for Sturgis. It’s my “scary” shirt.” My eyes rolled so loud that I was worried they’d send up security for me to turn the volume of my eyes down. Let me paint a picture of what my brother considers his scary shirt. It’s a button-down, cotton, work type shirt with sleeves and a pencil pocket. It’s pale pink. At first I thought it had paisley print on it so I asked in the lease disapproving voice I could muster, “Are those paisleys?”
His wife answered, “No. Their skulls with pineapple heads. Isn’t it a scary shirt?” My face started dancing in wild contortions. It does that when I feel obligated to answer one way but that thing that makes me me cannot lead them astray. “No,” I regurgitated! “No! It’s not a scary shirt!” Just then, that other thing that happenes happened.
My mind works in word associations. Everyone knows that the pineapple is associated with being a swinger before I could stop my tongue I spewed, “They’re going to think you’re a swinger!” Thank goodness they have a sense of humor and thank goodness even more they knew about the pineapple association because I didn’t really feel like explaining all of THAT to them. Good thing I didn’t because just then, my brother said to his wife, “Wife? Where did we put that gift for Jodi and that husband of hers? Is it in the bathroom?”
We were summoned to receive our gift in the bathroom. As we walked to the bathroom, I was mentioning that we have gifts for them, too. I opened the bathroom door with husband trailing behind. Inside the door was my beautiful niece who I haven’t seen since she was little! She’s 21 years old and super-model, magnificently blessed in looks. I let out a scream that I’m certain they could hear from this fourth floor room to the lobby!
A love fest ensued. We were off to downtown Sturgis. Neice was dressed in tall black motorcycle boots, a mini-skirt and long crop top. She sells insurance. We walked up the main drag in Sturgis being overly stimulated by sites, smells and the sounds of all of those beautiful bikes. We loved just being together after all of these years. As we walked, a man approached us as he crossed the street from the opposite way. He oozed confidence which was of the remarkable kind. Though we were all standing in a line, he approached me and asked, “Is she related to you?” I replied, “Yes. She’s my niece.” He gave me a nice compliment and then began talking to my niece. With all of us looking on we saw her putting what we believed to be her phone number in his phone. We all wanted to jump to say, “No! Stop!” But she looked more sure and confident than he did. He said something to her and went on his way. I asked my niece why she’d share her digits with a stranger? She said, “Do you really think I’d do that?” Her name is NOT Fiona but she typed in that name and gave her dear, unsuspecting mother’s digits.
We forgot about the encounter as we sat down to eat street vendor delights. Just then, sister-in-law’s phone beeped that she had received a text. It was from the man hitting on my niece. I’m the aunt who deeply investigates everything. No sooner did I got to a search engine to do my due diligence is when I realized, she’d just been hit on by a major Hollywood filmmaker! Major, major! I asked her if that was someone she’d be interested in? She gave me the answer that made me love her even more.
She said, “I’m not interested in a relationship right now. I’m going to focus on my career and Jesus.” We finished eating and I hung out with the Hell’s Angels who gave me a t-shirt and took a photo with me. Bet you didn’t see that coming! I didn’t either. But the same God who my brother’s family raises to praise heard the desire of my heart. Forever I have wanted to infiltrate their group just to see if all the hype is real? I wanted to use my light to hug them without hugging them. It worked.
They’re just people who want to belong like all of us. Let me just say, they were oodles more respectful towards me than some people within the walls of the church. Don’t worry. I didn’t pledge an oath to them. My allegiance is to God and always will be. And unlike judgmental me, they liked my brother’s scary shirt. The memories from this three day trip will last in all of our legacies!
Get out of your comfort zone and hang with people you think you share nothing in common with. Become a little rebel. You’ll be surprised, pleasantly and your light may just feel like a very needed hug to someone who didn’t receive enough of them growing up.
And I dare to wear your scary shirt to church, you rebels you!
