Corn Maze Mayhem

For four years now fall has come and gone each year with my husband and I saying that this will be the year we finally make it to a corn maze together.  It might sound kind of silly that we wanted to go to a corn maze that badly, but really it has become a joke to us more than anything. This year however, we finally made it, but it was a lot more than we bargained for…

We went to the maze soon after they opened in early September (we knew if we didn’t go soon, it would probably be another four years). We got there a little after 6:30 figuring that would give us over an hour of light which should be plenty of time because when you try to get lost at a corn maze it undoubtedly takes you 20 minutes and then you try to backtrack and get lost for real so you can enjoy the corn maze a little longer. So, there we were, strollers in hand ready to cross off one of our life goals together –plus two additions- and have some fun doing it. We were feeling pretty good at first that we knew right where we were and where we were going (stroller treds in a corn maze give you the Hansel and Gretel advantage that you knew everywhere you’ve been so you never have to repeat your mistakes). We were enjoying ourselves and taking our time but had to stop for twenty minutes or so to feed Carter, and that was when we realized that it was getting darker a little faster than we thought it would. So, we packed the kids back into the strollers and picked up the pace, after all we were going to be done in an hour so we hadn’t brought flashlights or our cell phone which had died earlier anyway. To make things worse, Carter was really acting pretty grumpy and acting ready to go to bed and Rachel had started getting a fever earlier but we ignored it so we could come to the maze (great call huh mom). At first our pace became a quick walk, but it soon turned into a as-fast-as-you-can-jog-without-bucking-the-kids-out-of-the-strollers run. It’s amazing how fast the sun goes down some days!

I was at least grateful that the moon was half full and shinning so we had a little light to at least not run face first into the thick of the corn stalks and break the cardinal corn maze rule of: “Thou shalt not get off the path” but was feeling really bad for Adam because night time is really hard for his eyes. Just as that thought came however, things got worse.  We had to step to the side for a second while some people from behind passed us and just as they did I heard an “Oh No!” from Adam. I looked back assuming Rachel had dropped something in the dirt or was feeling more feverish when Adam exclaimed that he had just lost a contact. (Just so we are on the same page here, it was a hard lens contact, not a mere $10 one you have a bathroom cupboard full of, but a over $100 lens plus a eye doctor visit on no insurance lens that we really didn’t have the money for right now) Great time to be in the dirt, at night with no flashlight eh?! The last few times this has happened we have been in a smaller area, had more light and still never found it, or found it after someone squished it at Disneyland. Here in a corn maze with the theme of “Get Lost”, it really felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. Though it felt hopeless, I got down on my hands and knees and felt as softly as I could all along the dirt around us pleading for a miracle. One came. After a few minutes and feelings of just moving on, I suddenly remembered that I had slid our tiny video camera in my pocket just before we left.  It didn’t have a bright light on it, but as soon as the dim light kicked on and shinned on the dirt, the contact was exactly in the faint beam. As I gasped and picked it up to give to Adam I could hardly hold back the tears. So often in life we feel we are not worthy of receiving blessings from our Heavenly Father, and so often He shows us He loves us anyway. I am not the greatest at acknowledging His hand in my life, but I know that I did not find that tiny transparent contact lens by my own great eyesight.

The trek to the finish line went much smoother after that, Carter fell asleep, Rachel calmed down, and we found a couple teenagers who had flashlights and let us follow them around. After a whomping two hours, we exited the corn maze 50 feet from where we had entered, made it to our car, and drove home very reverently. I never thought that your typical corn maze date could turn into such a sweet spiritual experience where you walked away not only with more love for each other after having spent some precious time together, but also to our Heavenly Father who cares enough for us to prompt us to bring a video camera we never took a video with, and guided my hand to find the needle in the haystack.