It all started on Friday… *Steve stares into space while remembering* Oh, sorry about that.

I looked excitedly out the bus window at a very small airport. The bus came to a stop, and I gathered up my two bags and the duct tape rose, still glancing out the window. For the first time on the entire trip, I was one of the first off the bus. I start to look around only to realize that I don’t need to… there she is, grinning from ear to ear, walking briskly toward me. My arms were around her before my bags hit the ground. After a long embrace, we headed, hand in hand, for her Impala to begin a weekend that promised to be one of the best ever.

We went to a coffee house to hear Rob play for open mic. He’s pretty good. After being urged by Rob and Rachel, I went up and sang the lip song in the Larry voice. I suppose it went over pretty well (especially for the three Ao-Wa-Kiya kids there). I’ve already made mention of the Cascade falls, where we went next, so I won’t go into that. Apparently my mom has been there. She used to go there when she was a kid, so that was pretty fun to learn.

Saturday. The wedding was alright. It was cool to see them get married, but I really didn’t know anyone there, and had it not been for the fact that Rachel was with me, it would have been a pretty boring reception. (Disclaimer: It wasn’t a boring reception in itself, I just didn’t know anyone). After the wedding we walked around in downtown Jackson. She showed me some of the things she had told me she wanted me to see. It was fun finally seeing all this stuff that she was always talking about (like her friends, school, etc). We ended up lying in the grass in a park, looking up at the clouds, talking, laughing, and just being together. It was great. As she said, I could have stayed like that forever. But it was getting cool, and it was time to find something to eat. I wanted to find a sit-down resturaunt, so after walking in a couple circles, we ended up looking at a place called Bella Note, an Italian resturaunt. As we were walking toward the door, a waiter came out holding a fancy silver tray and wearing a tuxedo, and we simultaneously decided that this place was probably a little expensive. So we ended up driving down to a place called “The Parlour,” in Jackson, MI. It was excellent. I highly reccomend it.

Sunday we were gettin ready to leave for church when her car wouldn’t start. Apparently the battery had finally decided to die. So we took her friend’s car and ended up not being too late. Right after church we headed to AutoZone to get a new battery. Then we didn’t ’cause we wanted to be sure it was her battery that was bad so we went back to school to get her bettery, took it back to AZ and had it tested. Yup, it was bad. We bought a new one, went back to school where her car was still waiting, installed the battery, and took it back to AZ to test the alternator… just in case. They said it was fine. So that was done.

For the rest of the afternoon, we went to a park, found some “hidden trails,” and did some of the normal couple-type things (long hugs, sweet nothings in the ear… etc. I’ll spare you the details). Then we ran back to the car and got back to school too late for dinner. Oh well. Off to Cici’s for some great pizza, cheesey bread and cinnamon rolls. This calls for a side story…

The Side Story

I can’t remember what we were talking about, but I remember it was taking a lot of concentration for me to put all the words together and make them come out right. Then, right in the middle of a sentence, I feel Rachel’s foot on mine and it was over. I totally lost my train of thought (however rickety the track was). But she definitely got a kick out of it. Apparently she likes the fact that I get so infactuated with her that I lose the ability to think rationally… something like that… hey look! a shiny thing…

Meanwhile, back at the farm…

After Cici’s we went to Target and then planned to watch a movie. We missed the movie on account of a “talk.” It was one of those talks you don’t want to have, but once it’s done, you’re glad you had it, and know it was the right thing to do. So by the time that was done, it was about time to head back to school. We swung on the swings for a little bit, and then just hung out until curfew.

Monday went pretty well until classes and lunch were over. Then the reality of my leaving was becoming more evident. I tried tying myself to her, but that didn’t work, it just cut off circulation to her hand. I fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport while holding her hand. It was a peaceful sleep… Then we got to the bus station, said goodbye, and I got on the bus. After a few minutes, the bus driver announced it’d be another 20 minutes before the bus left. I got off that bus in a hurry and ran toward where Rachel had parked. She was still waiting for my bus to drive by, so we headed back down the same sidewalk arm in arm again (major deja-vu). Then we said goodbye again (I liked the second one better). Then I got on the bus and really left. That was my sunset. I watched as my sunshine faded behind a sea of parked cars. Thank God for phone calls and IM.

Had another long bus ride, but I got to witness to someone and watch him accept Christ. That was sweet. The rest of the ride, however… not so sweet. My parents picked me up in Denver so I got home earlier. It’s nice to be home, and I only hope that I can be living here and now, and not just longing for the next time I get to see her. “We have all the time in the world”

Pray for me…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 20th, 2005 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Rachel, Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.