I have a tendency to collect vacation phobias. Am I alone in this hobby? Luckily they tend to be temporary, and not a souvenir I bring back to the real world. On a recent Mexico trip, I added a new one!
We were staying in a new condo complex in downtown Puerto Vallarta. It was gorgeous and modern. After checking in, we were escorted to our room. In this seemingly endless journey to our condo, it started to feel a little like a beautiful prison.
We took the first elevator to the second floor. Then you get out walk around the corner and take a second elevator to the fourth floor. Each elevator required key cards and most had doors that open on both sides. On this second elevator, the left side doors opened to a shoebox sized enclosure, no bigger than a car. It was a windowless, sterile, shiny white, blank space that had two doors at the ‘far’ end. Each door had a high tech lock that requires a code from a touch screen.
At this point in the tour, I was trying to dismiss every thought of a power outage and being stuck in this pristine windowless shoebox prison. Once inside the condo the claustrophobia and worst-case scenario thoughts left my mind. We were greeted with an entire wall of floor to ceiling windows with breath-taking ocean views.
But our beautiful prison tour was not done yet. Next we were shown how to get to the rooftop pool. You had to exit through the master bedroom sliding glass door, (which did not have a working LOCK!) Then a THIRD elevator appeared on our right, this was the one that took you to the rooftop pool. How many elevators can this little complex have??? We were not escorted up to the rooftop, the host must have assumed we could figure that part out on our own. (She assumed wrong, but more on that later). We finished the ‘elevator’ prison tour, and were left alone.
Back in our condo, hubby and I decided to kill some time before our friends arrived, and check out the rooftop pool. We went back out through the master bedroom slider and found the first elevator on the right. This is the right, right elevator, right? Our first solo ride, hubby swiped his magic key card. This elevator also had right dual side opening doors, and two identical panels. The top floor was “P” and next to that was “A”. We knew the very top floor was the pool. Although “P” in America is PENTHOUSE- the assumption in Mexico would be P for PISCINA or pool. So he hit “P” on the right panel. Nothing happened except the elevator door closing. Next he hit “P” on the left panel. Then all the sudden the elevator went dark, you could literally hear the electric sigh as the elevator powered down completely. We were now STUCK and in the dark!!!
BREATHE Jackie, breathe.
Hubby instantly got out his phone and turned the flashlight on. Not sure what he did, but he managed to get the left side elevator doors to open. That did not help us. That led to the white windowless shoebox prison of strangers’ rooms. We were STILL trapped. Hubby kept working, quietly, swiftly, and confidently. He got the right side of the elevator to open and I JUMPED OUT! Freedom.
Hubby was not ready to give up. He found two nearby workers and asked them in broken Spanish how to get to the pool. We were able to communicate enough to know it was “A” that got us to the pool. (SIDENOTE- why “A” – POOL doesn’t start with A – ROOF doesn’t start with A – Why A ???) Now I had my hubby and two local maids trying to coax me back into the elevator. I was perfectly happy not getting back into that tiny box, but I eventually succumbed to their confident persuasions.
We made it this time!
What did I learn from our beautiful prison stay? Life is all about unexpected delays, risks, and rewards. The modern condo was a maze of twists and turns and elevators, so so so many elevators. Anytime we left, we had to plan on double the time to exit. With each summoning of the elevator, I was pushing aside fear and removing catastrophe and claustrophobia thinking. We accepted all these added inconveniences and delays because the reward at the end was stunning views in your condo and atop on the roof; our own little piece of temporary paradise.
My mamas, we have walked a long hard infertility road. We have endured through the hurry up and wait of timed treatments, injections, invasive procedures, checking, measuring, waiting, anticipating, crying, and praying. We have endured the heart shattering baby losses, and the grieving; all in the hopes of the elevator doors open to your own baby paradise.
As I know all too well, sometimes that paradise doesn’t happen.
In our elevator moments of life mamas, we have to keep going; working quietly, swiftly and confidently to accept God’s ‘no’ for a season of life. We won’t be trapped forever, a door, a lifeline, will open to our own ‘different than expected’ temporary paradise. You can TRUST the journey mamas, if you TRUST your navigator.
“I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you. Don’t panic, I’m with you.
There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.”
Isaiah 41:10 (The Message version)
Ice Baby Ministries 