Took a little time to smell the roses tonight, on a trip back toward "the point"... and stopped at the place that all of this basically began...
Not quite to the day, over by a few weeks or so, 4 years ago I had my life handed to me on a spoon... Ok more like cardboard box...
Not a moment too soon, I met someone very special that helped catalyze the reaction that eventually and ultimately resulted in the person I am today, and the new set of directions I've taken.
As luck would have it, both of the spaces where all of this took place were completely available and I took the chance to reflect on what all has transpired since that day. The foliage makes for prime real estate under most circumstances at this time of year... For those traveling and wanting to maybe hit snooze on the ol' alarm clock a few times. Or could have just been spotted as one of the safer places to squat and formulate some form of "emergency response" plan. Gotta just trust me when I say I know all too well the value of those two trees specifically, regardless of any given reasoning one might have behind occupying the area below.
There's a lot of credit that goes out to a lot of people for helping me get back up on my feet (admittedly still a work in progress), but in the context of "lightning strike precision as a single, brief event", one takes it by a mile.
I wish I could give her credit by name, but out of respect for her wishes to leave it all behind her, I can't even really just use her first name alone. As she is unique in almost every way imaginable, her name is no exception, and the big G (at the very least) has no issue bringing her to the surface with little else to refine it.
That said, those that know the finer details can attest that her spirit was integrated into the design of the truck on many levels, in my little attempts to show my gratitude for meeting one of the most genuine and truly awesome examples of what everyone should try to be.
4 hours... Chatting with someone I only had a single question for as I approached her on that fateful evening... and she doesn't even realize it, but she stuck a magnet under my stubborn compass and changed my life forever. I wish her all the best, and hope that she finds someone that can truly appreciate her for who she is. I know that I'll never forget her.
If it sounds like something out of a fairytale, that's because on several levels, it has many of the ingredients. The gift she gave wasn't just an inanimate object in the form of a tired old van... within was a curious genius, and despite very adverse conditions, evidence that she never even considered giving up, and even kept the finer things in life in focus. Absolutely inspirational.
Coming back here I notice a sense of calm and "ownership" of the surroundings, something I admittedly, mistakenly, and wishfully considered into the general concept of the truck. I've attempted to go for a few hours here and there in other wally world lots... most of the time, only a few minutes goes by and a "forgotten yet familiar" concept shows up... instead of the expectations worked in on the drawing board... the sheer terror on steroids that I experienced at the initial onset of being hurled out into a completely foreign culture.
That's ok tho, her spirit may only thrive right here in this one spot for me, but it's clear that I can at least experience one of the things I'd hoped I would in this whole process. The world looks really different from this vantage point, and I'm just grateful that I was lucky enough to be given the gift to be able to appreciate it.
If you should ever meet her, you'll just know. Please tell her I said thank you, for everything.
That said, I guess it's getting that time again... 'till the next one...
Steve