The category “Llama in Pajamas in the Bahamas” I define as Something that has happened that makes you happy just when you think about it. So, going through muck and yuck in my life I have been able to sometimes (sometimes harder than others) to think about Llamas in Pajamas in the Bahamas that has happened in my life. To at least have at least a moment to make my heart smile when it wanted to break.
My first Llama that I had in my life has always been my happy place. That memory is my first memory of life. My family was stationed in Anchorage AK. I was about 4 years. There was snow on the ground which does not really nail down a time of year since ¾ of the year there is snow on the ground. LOL My dad and one of his friends that I called “Uncle Leo” took me ice skating on a pond that was behind our house. I can remember the crispness of the air. The cold on my face. Being wrapped in layers of clothes. Being a walking Michelin man. I distinctly remember being able to see the mountains in the distance. How many people can say their first memory of life was ice skating on a pond in Alaska.
My fondness memory of that day was my dad and uncle being on opposite sides of the pond and basically pushing me across the pond to the other person. I remember feeling so safe. That if I started to tumble or fumble one or both would come to my rescue. They would do their best to protecting me from falling. Thinking of this even as I type this up makes my heart smile.
I am also realizing as I am typing this maybe the reason I would automatically think of this Llama is because it was a memory that made me totally feel safe. So, I think my brain used it as a “safety” measure when I was stuck in the muck of my life. It was my life preserve when I was having a hard time treading the waters of life.
It is crazy the plan GOD has mapped out for me. How different parts of my life inter-connect decades later. My son-in-law is currently stationed on the same base my dad was. I went to visit last thanksgiving. Part of me yearned to reminisce and try to find where we lived over 4 decades before. But reality set in that it would be nearly impossible to find it since there was probably so much remodeling and construction done of the base in that long of a time. So, I kind of gave up on even trying.
Well then, this past Easter I went back again to visit. I brought the hope of finding the pond up to my daughter. So, we planned to venture out to try to find it. Before going on the trip, I had spoken to my dad about where we lived in Alaska. He told me he thought it was Cherry Street. So, I gave that information to Bethanie. We googled that name but had no luck finding it on JBER. We drove through every neighborhood that she could find. None of them struck a memory in me. So, we were getting ready to head back to her house when she saw this park she really liked. So, she took a picture of it and sent it to her friend Marie and mentioned they should take the kids to it. Well her friend sent her a message back telling Bethanie there is also a cool park in Cherry Manor housing. As soon as Bethanie read that message to me I began to wonder if maybe it was Cherry Manor that my dad remembered the name being and not Cherry Street
So, we googled where Cherry Manor was and headed over that way. The house seemed familiar. But we could see a pond from the parking lot. So, Bethanie got out of the car and ran behind the buildings to see if she could see anything. She came back to report that there was not an “actual” pond but there was a play area that looked like it could be on top of a pond.
I called up my dad to tell him that I thought I found our old house and Bethanie was trying to see if she could find the pond. This is when my dad told me that it was not an “actual” pond. Him and my uncle had “made” the pond by clearing out the area and them flooding it with water. This memory became more awesome with this information. To realize that the man that I had vague happy memories of and with had gone out of his way to create this great memory for me. This memory became even more special (if that is possible) knowing the length that my dad went to make it possible.
I don’t have information that the house or playground are the exact location of our house or the pond. But that exact information does not matter. The fact that I found the possible area and the fact my dad created the memory is all that matters to me.
So not only is this my first llama this is my favorite Llama. Not only does it make my heart smile. It makes my soul smile.
This view is breath taking (not the exact mountains you can see through the trees but equally beautiful)
