Rye Bagel Chips

When I buy a bag of Chex Mix, I do it for one reason, and one reason only:  the rye bagel chips.  They are the flat, dark-brown, dried bagel chips that can be found amongst the pretzels, the Chex squares and some other random things that I don't particularly notice.  It's not that the rest of the mix doesn't taste good--it does!  It's just that nothing is as tasty as the rye bagel chips.  I love those rye bagel chips.  In the past, I have had friends who have known how much I want only them, and they pick them out of their mix to give to me.  Such good friends.

At the Free Market

Being on this cruise, I have come to appreciate how many “rye bagel chips” moments my family and I have had in our lives.  I would suspect that we would all say that our lives are pretty good, if not really great, on any particular day.  We have pretzel moments, and Chex squares moments, and other random moments that we don’t particularly notice.  They are all good moments.  Mixed in amongst those moments, however, are some rye bagel chips moments, and boy are those fantastic!

Today, we took a break from scuba diving (mostly because of the cost of the dive), took our chances and headed to the shore of Belize.  I was overwhelmed with the amount of poverty and filth that surrounded us.  People too of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors surrounded us at every moment.  We found a snorkel tour, signed up and hoped for the best.

More of the market

Mark, searching for shells

Yellow-Spotted (Lemon) Stingray

Of the six hours we were gone, we had the chance to snorkel for about 45 minutes.  We saw fish that we had seen on our previous dives, and our snorkel leader, Albert, found a lemon sting ray.  Very cool.  I spotted a school of barracuda.  There was a lot of boat travel related to the afternoon, and Hannah got a bad sunburn, enjoying laying out on the beach.  It was a Chex square afternoon—not the best in the bag, but still tasty and enjoyable.

Then, this evening, the cruise touted an entertainment spectacular that we didn’t want to miss!  The cruise director told us that we would hear people talking about the next day, and we would have wished that we had attended (if we hadn’t).  It was an 80’s review, and John was especially excited.

Again, a Chex square evening that Glo and I left early because she could hardly stay awake, and because I was looking for any excuse to get out of there.

Before I left, I looked around at the people in the audience.  The majority of people looked happy and seemed to really be enjoying themselves.  What was wrong with me?

I came to the conclusion that Heavenly Father has blessed me with many “rye bagel chips” moments in my life, and because of that, my expectations can be a little high at times.  From sitting in the front row of a performance by the Berlin Philharmonic back in Germany in 2005, to attending a concert at Juilliard in December; from climbing a 1,000-foot rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to see a monastery at the top of it, to diving 45 feet under the ocean’s surface to follow a swimming sea turtle; from giving up my own dreams and wishes in life to see my own children become more than I could have ever imagined for them.  These are my “rye bagel moments”, ones to hope for, to pick out of the mix, and to treasure forever.

Of course life can’t always be the best, and I’m thankful that on most days, we could say that we are still living the sweet life (or salty life, if you prefer salty things like me).  Chex squares, and pretzels and other things that I don’t particularly notice, but it’s those “rye bagel chips” moments that are the best.  I truly am so thankful that I have been given so many.

Glo, wiped out after our day in the sun