Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Day 199

tim. tyler. adam. shaun. paul. me.

kiwi. canadian. australian. kiwi. kiwi. me.

our community was completed today as shaun and paul hopped off the charter bus and crossed the street to enter our house. we do live in a good part of town. they'd been in calgary since the end of camp working as roofers and making some solid dough, so it made sense for them to keep their opportunity until their jobs on the ski hill started training this week.

tim has flown back from new zealand after leaving camp and canada in may. we'd had some good yarns, that surf trip, and had climbed mountains and 'outrun that cougar' of which whom had either still been pursuing us or not carried no relevance that day in a dusky forest of world class, wild cat population. after struggling with circumstances and decisions, tim had suddenly left vancouver island in june to begin his first semester of university back home. at the age of twenty-three, he gives no impression that a viable, higher education had been temporarily paused in pursuit of alternatives such as numerous world travels, a natural acquisition of a variety of international library memberships, and work on canadian oil rigs. he heard the word and has come over to join the community.

tyler is the seasonal intern for the snowboarders for Christ organization chapter in fernie and who's arrangements for this house for us were the biggest reason, in our minds, for our group to be assembled in fernie. he also sometimes works at the 'edge of the world' snowboard shop which is also right across the street and just past the hostel and greyhound stop. we really do live in a good part of town.

adam and i have shared the longest fernie experience of our group since we arrived and stayed in late october. he left australia and social work with an around-the-world plane ticket, ready for a new experience and perspective before turning twenty six. every time we'd be meeting new people in town, i'd constantly get the song 'adelaide' by ben folds stuck in my head after he shared his home. sufjan stevens had a song that could sometimes overtake this mental repetition when it came my turn for introductions, but a chill, awkward sufjan rarely beats a piano rock ben folds.

me. you know me. i hope, by now. we rocked up into town two weeks before move-in date and with faith and a personal list of major, important details to determine for the possibility of survival in this place. friends, a job, connections, opportunities, and a temporary home were soon provided. then on day 170, if you remember, i'd lost hope for the first time in the possibility to continue the trip, the adventure, the transition, and this story. and again, answers and means of a bigger perspective than before were soon provided.

i had been looking forward to today since september first. this beginning. this is a beginning. summer and fall have been spent. the mountains are waiting and holding a collection of patchy white dust and a colder and crisper air comes rushing down the highway each day. shawn, the pastor at church, happened to find me walking to the coffee shop two days ago and, as i accepted a ride, he told me that although the snow may be late this season, it is coming soon. the new beginning is coming soon.

hopefully now you've got a better idea of the big picture. maybe you feel the anticipation of what's to come. i think we needed that- a step back to acknowledge the place that we've finally and together arrived after all setting out on individual and unconnected adventures over six months ago.


i look forward to introducing the rest of our friends and community soon. be ready. there are many.

1 comment:

goooooood girl said...
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