The Worst Birthday Ever

Happy birthday, Carol. July 25, 1980. Where better to celebrate than Havasu City, Arizona. Home of the London Bridge, they say. She’ll never forget that one.

We had been on a canoe trip down the Colorado River for four days, starting at Bullhead City. We had about twenty high school students, one bus, 115 degree weather, and brutal sunburn to watch out for. We had fun splashing and swimming our way down the river, 15 miles a day. The first two days we were absorbed with watching for a child that we were told was missing, and presumed drowned in the river. Every little piece of wood, every trash floating in the river we would row up close and frightfully inspect. Now that was a trip!

Each night I would hitch a ride back to our starting point to retrieve the bus, and that way we were able to shuttle our way down the river. The third day, though, was disaster. The bus blew a rod out the side of the engine. It was done. And we were nearly 200 miles from Tucson. We had the bus towed to a storage yard to deal with later, and called the church to recruit a driver to bring out another bus to pick us up on our last day. Somehow we continued our shuttle and finished our trip.

When we got to Havasu City, our destination, we turned our canoes over to the outfitter, and went to find a nice cool McDonalds to sit and wait for the bus. Carol and I took turns waiting out on the highway to flag down the bus. (Remember, this was pre-future -- no cell phones.) We expected it to arrive about 6:00 PM. That’s when I told them we would be ready and waiting. But it didn’t come, and didn’t come. The driver they recruited was one of the school drivers, and there wasn’t a lot of love between the school staff and the church programs, even though they were “one in spirit and entity”. She waited till after work to depart Tucson, and must have been oblivious to our plight. The kids started getting restless and I had to stay with them to keep them happy. So Carol ended up sitting out on the highway, almost till midnight, in the brutal heat – hot, dirty, sweaty, and exhausted.

When we finally got settled in for the trip home, Carol leaned over to me and said, “Do you know what today is?” I had forgotten. Totally forgotten. She told me, “it is the worst birthday ever.” Every year now she asks me, “Remember Havasu City, my worst birthday ever?” I’m never sure if it’s a statement, though, or a question. At least now we can look back and laugh together. Just a bit.

“This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)