Continued from "Giving up" as you can probably guess, this will be my final part in my journey.
The next day, Wednesday, September 5th, 2007, there was a meeting in the lobby. This meeting was to announce everyone of someone coming down to talk about financial aid. The meeting was cut short because of a lady having seizures a few times, which eventually lead to an ambulance having to be called. I went to the mall later on, only to be called by Louden who was inviting me to go down to the Calvary. Remembering it was Wednesday, I decided to go. We met up and jumped around on some of the ramps they had set up. When 5:30pm rolled around, we were all called in to service. Without thinking, I put my bike down and went inside. I watched as the Youth Pastor preached about God, and the band played a couple songs that the crowd sang along to. I remember some very powerful words, about how you can't just give what you have left to God when this life is over, that you had to give what you have now to him and trust everything you got in his name. At the time it didn't say much for me, because I had felt like I had nothing, and was barely making it by.
After the service was over, I met up with Louden again inside, and he introduced me to both the Youth Pastor that sets up the ramps outside, and the Lead Pastor that was doing the preaching, and they both learned about my case of being homeless. They immediately tried to help, but I declined all of their offers, assuring them that I was going home soon anyway. The lead pastor offered to invite me over for dinner on a random night, but that was before I told him that I was staying at a shelter and was all set.
The young youth pastor that I had originally met, went with Louden and I to put away all of the Ramps back into the storage. He then offered Louden and I a ride back to our houses, since it was getting late. He placed our bikes on a bike rack on the back of his convertible with the top up. We drove to McDonald's near the Greentree Plaza, and he bought us all some dinner. I order my usual plain double cheeseburger, but for a change I tried the new Sweet Tea they had. After that, he dropped me off at the homeless shelter, and introduced himself to Mr. Lewis. It was past curfew, but Mr. Lewis was okay with it since it was church related.
The next two days, I woke up and went to the mall and got some ice cream, and apparently we were having a room-check, which we horribly failed. After cleaning up and doing some extra chores, everyone went downstairs to watch Daredevil in the living room. I became friends with everyone that was there, and had made frequent trips to the store for people on my bike.
On Friday, I went to the movies and watched Shootem Up, then I walked into a different theater to watch Halloween, and after that was over, back into a theater playing Shootem Up again since I enjoyed if the first time.
On my last day in Dover, I woke up with a wonderful prank by my roommates. I didn't realize it until I got downstairs and someone else pointed out, that half of my entire body was covered in baby-powder. I was wearing the formerly brown pants I bought at Kohl's, and my brown sweatshirt. It was as if they opened the cap and dumped it. I was angry at first, but we had a laugh about it later. I showered and changed, and then headed down to the UPS store to look for a box for my bike. I didn't want to leave it behind, as it was my 2nd best friend on this journey, next to my MP3 player. At the UPS store, we found a box, and tried to fit my bike inside. Luckily one of the employees knew bikes, and helped me detach a pedal and a tire to get it to fit. I called a Taxi, and then headed for the Bus Station. While I was there, I noticed this family that was saying goodbye to a young girl about my age, I had conversation with them about traveling and buses. They asked me to help her out and keep her company until she met up with her real family. After they got my bike onto the bus, I sat next to her. She was a Russian girl, who spoke English with a very heavy accent. Her name was Lilian. We were probably the only ones talking on the bus, chatting about random things like music, scenery, places, foods, language, and of course, comparing countries. It was nice to finally socialize with somebody on a bus, usually people just keep to themselves. After 4 hours, we reached New York, at the same bus station that I had slept at on the way over there. She met up with her family member, and we said goodbye. I remember a random guy trying to help me with my bags, and it was too loud to stop him, so I ended up having to pay him the three dollars left in my wallet.
New York to Boston. The date was Tuesday, September 11th, 2007. I had a one hour layover at Boston to catch my bus for Plymouth, where I would switch to the P & B buses. It was early morning, and my grandmother was going to be there to pick me up.
From Boston to Plymouth, just a quiet ride. I got off the bus, hauled my bike off and got it out of the box. I walked it over to my grandmother's car, where I gave her a hug and she welcomed me back. We went inside and ate some breakfast at the McDonald's.
I remember when I came back, I had no emotion, I was blank, any smile that I made was nothing more than muscle movement on my face, any laugh I made was just a quick exhale with a voice, any word that came out was nothing but a vibration in my mind telling me to be quiet.
Many people have had bigger journey's than this, but this was more than just a trip to another state. This was more than just a traveling journey, more than just an exploration, more than just an experience. I learned the hard way that you need other people to survive in this world. Everybody is where, and who they are today because of somebody else. And if you have the ability to help someone, you have no reason not to and sooner or later, it might just save their life.
After I got back, I was still broken. My emotions went on a bigger journey than I did, and it took me a long time to recover. I soon met a girl named Crystal, who became a good friend that I was able to share my feelings with.
I share this story with everyone, because not a lot of people know the truth behind what happened with me and how I've changed. To this day, my mother and I are better than ever, because I realize now what a good person she raised me to be. My father is doing well and I'm closer to my brother TJ than I was before.
I write this because, a lot of people will tell you that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But what they don't tell you is that it still leaves a scar. Because there is a girl out there, someone that I really cared about, that I'm not allowed to know anymore.
View User's Journal
Please enter your journal title here
 |
Buzz Killlington
Community Member |
