Campfire Stories

Amazing Holiday Times...

Wow. What a couple weeks. I am so overwhelmed and completely stoked on everything that has happened.

I suppose I'll start back before Christmas. Time with fam was awesome - it was good to wear Hawaiian shirts and rainbow sandals again. On the way in from Vegas Shay and I are talking on the party line with Derek and Katie - the 1st Youth Specialties couple. They also met on the forums and share a very similar story as Shay and I. Katie lives in So Cal, about 15 minutes from my mom's house. So before I go home, Katie is at the Wal Mart just down the street from where I grew up and I ambush her there. Never met her in my life. It was fun - goofing off at an overly crowded Wal Mart with somebody who shares a similar story as myself. God bless the connections of the spirit and within the community of ministry.

Christmas was good. It was fun telling family about Shay. (Can you see a recurring theme in my thought processes?)

I left Cali the afternoon of the 26th with an old friend who is like a sister to me. 6 and a half hours later we arrived in Vegas. Within an hour of that my old roomie from college Dave Torstensen, Kristin, myself, my brother Jared, and my buddy Casey were getting into a stretch excursion limo in front of the Sahara. Dave lives in NYC and was home in Nevada for Christmas. We went to the Ghost Bar on top of the Palms (gorgeous place) where Kristin (literally) ran into Kevin Spacey on the patio overlooking Las Vegas. Later that evening I peed next to him. Sorry ladies, I have no further information. A very much fun and random evening.

We made it back to Colorado Tuesday night the 28th, I had more money in my pocket than I left the Springs with a week earlier (thank you Vegas :), and the weather is absolutely perfect. By this point I am counting hours until Shay lands in Colorado. Kristin, my buddy Matt and I drive up to DIA to pick up Shay at 8:30am. We're all planning on heading up to Boulder and goofing off up there for the day. I am at the closest point that I can be to see Shay as soon as possible - and when I watched her come up the escalator from the concourse train, it was magical. My heart was once again complete here in Colorado. We all head out to my car, and... crap. It don't run so hot. So bad that we barely make it out of the airport to a gas station. The estimate comes to $850. My car's barely worth that. Eric comes up and picks us up, (Thanks Eric!) the tow truck gets my car, and we're back in the Springs. Exhausted. Carless. Grrr. We tow the car to Jimmy's house, one of the coolest guys I know, a member of Gateway. We tinker with it some, and eventually he says, "take my 4 runner, we'll work on this later." So we go home, try to nap, and eventually find ourselves at a New Years Eve party. Us, being the old farts that we are, leave the party at 10:30. Ok, maybe we were exhausted, and maybe some other things were going on... but it was awesome to spend the first minutes of the new year with the love of my life.

Saturday we drove all over Southern Colorado - it was a perfect day, and mentally I got ready for Sunday. I preached at Gateway. It was awesome, intense, crazy, and unbelievable all at the same time. Somehow the Spirit used me to communicate a message to a community that on average is twice my age. Simply further reinforcement that God is in fact in control, and I am not.

So here I am on Tuesday night, glowing in the fact that USC just won the national championship, but very much bummed that Shay is no longer here. I absolutely loved spending time with her. Of all the things that we did together, my favorite parts were the mornings together. I would sneak into my room where she was sleeping, crawl into bed with her, and we would share moments together. Eventually we would be up and about, I would make breakfast, we would sip coffee, and simply be together. It was perfect. I am in love with this woman in a way that I never thought possible. I had a dream for the perfect woman. She doesn't even come close - because my dream falls short of who and what she is. And now she is gone, and all I can do now is count down the days until I get to see her again (21) so I can be reunited with the missing piece of my heart.

posted by Devo @ 10:24 PM |