“A time to weep, and a time to laugh”–Ecclesiastes 3:4a

Once as part of a summer trip, Lori and I pulled into a hotel lot in Milwaukee. We had been on the road since early that morning, having had a good visit with family in Michigan’s upper peninsula, but the drive had been miserable. There had been heavy rain and traffic for much of the way. Add a toddler in his car seat to the mix and you can well understand why we were ready to stop by 6 p.m. We had reservations and otherwise would not have found a room, for we pulled in and saw that the parking lot was full.  Not with cars, but Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

There must have been some kind of road rally in the area and close to a hundred motorcyles in the lot. Many of the vehicle owners were in the lobby when we checked-in and they were a tough-looking group. After getting into our room, we went out for a quick dinner. On returning, I parked my Honda Civic between two Harleys at a side entrance to the hotel. It was a cool night so we kept the window open for our second-floor room.  

Early the next morning, I walked out the same door and found that my car was gone. In the space where I had parked it sat two motorcycles. Fearing our vehicle had been stolen, I frantically began looking all around and soon spotted the Civic in a parking space on the opposite side of the lot.  It was neatly between the lines. The doors were locked and emergency brake engaged. I was trying to figure out what had happened when I saw a piece of paper under the wiper. Unfolding it, I read a note on hotel stationery that said “Thanks for last night–Flo.” Only then did I fully understand that our car had not rolled to its new spot, but had been carried!

I recalled having heard a group of bikers whooping it up outside our room around midnight and while I didn’t look out at the time it seemed obvious that they must have been our uninvited moving crew. While upset at first, the car was undamaged and thus quickly moved to a spirit of gratitude that I had not seen the human transport effort while it was underway.  I went back to our room and on hearing the news, Lori shared both my sense of dismay and relief.  

When we checked-out of the hotel, the clerk asked about our stay. Of course, we shared what had happened. She apologized, but added “I wish they had taken my car!”  It didn’t seem funny at the time, but of course, the whole experience immediately became part of our collective travel lore.  

Oddly enough, looking back all these years later, made me think of what the preacher of Ecclesiastes said in his most famous list. In particular, he affirmed, that among other things, there’s “a time to weep and a time to laugh.” Wherever your emotions are on that scale this day, our morning in Milwaukee reveals that sometimes the same event can evoke both!

God of all times, help us to identify the moments when our best response is to weep or laugh and the wisdom to know which is which.  Amen.