Living Rarefied

As I expected, last night was tough…

We went to a local establishment that you can rent board games, Nintendo games and such from. We sat on couches and watched as people played Super Mario Brothers on the 8-bit Nintendo… Amazing how after years of not playing, the warp zones and hidden coin boxes are still in your memory.

As we watched and talked, you could sense a bit of strangeness in the air, but things were not different. One strange fact was that the group assembled hasn't gotten together like this since the day we won the kickball championship last summer. Sad that it took somebody moving for us all to gather 1 year later.

As we walked to my car to say our goodbye's you could tell there was a lot of strength and fighting to keep back emotions and try to remain strong. Small jokes to keep a smile were said. But there aren't enough jokes in the world to last long enough to postpone reality.

In my 10 minute drive home, it seems as if every image/experience was replayed in my head. Kicked off by the fact that the 4 of us standing there last night were the same 4 who met over 2 years ago at a homeless shelter. 2 pairs of best friends… The videotape quickly continued to our first serious conversation about our pasts. Talking about our toughest battles we have faced and how quickly my knuckles were turned white as snow and our pants close to being soiled as a tire from a semi-truck blew up and nailed my car, then realising we didn't have any gas and luckily coasted into the pumps at the Mills Fleet Farm in Alexandria MN. Then onto the nights where no kids showed up at Young Life and we were left as leaders to pray. To our time in El Salvador together on the same team. Her screaming at the cockroaches in the latrine and me acting all manly like I didnt mind them… Photographing "the State Fair pose" (see previous post) Countless episodes we encountered over the past 2 years were replayed. Sometimes my extra ability to remember vivid imagery of my life is a blessing, sometimes a curse. Unfortunately for last night and today, it is a curse because it makes it that much harder. Fortunately soon, I will rely on those vivid images to boost me up in my spirits.

Thankfully I have plenty of these goofy pictures from over the years…

Ethan testing