My Life Be Like...

This whole past week I have been able to say my goodbyes to all of my friends in Marietta, OH. On Monday (27th) night some of my friends threw me a little surprise going away party. During much of the week I was able to spend time with people close to me whether it was in a hot tub, at a campfire, at dinner, getting ice cream, or whatever it might be. Time well spent. My last night in Marietta, Friday, was spent with youth members, college students, and other friends of mine at a sleepover in the church. We played games, had some time in the word, had a little departing service, and said our goodbyes as I drove off with my car packed.

Now it is on to the next adventure. Maine:

My brothers, Eric and Stephen, and I took off for some family vacation time in Maine early Monday morning. We arrived at our gate with about an hour to spare and sat down on the little black chairs that are so common to airports. I cracked open Donald Miller's book "Through Painted Deserts" and took my place reading where I had left off, about 2/3 of the way done. A couple of pages in, I heard over the loudspeaker: "For all passengers traveling on the 11:15am flight to Portland, ME, we have overbooked this flight and are asking for three of you to change your travel plans to accomodate. We are offering you a $400 voucher for future airfare with Continental airlines."

I glanced around a bit to size up the competition and then shot up out of my seat and asked the man what the itinerary would look like for these three people. He told me that they would take a flight at 3:30pm to Boston and then take a cab to Portland, with all of the expenses being paid for. After a short huddle with my brothers and a quick phone conversation with our mother, we told the man that we'd do it. $1,200 in airfare ain't too shabby for arriving in Maine 7 hours later than expected. Another lady at the desk gave us vouchers for airfare, food, and the cabs we'd need to take.

$8 for lunch isn't all that much in an aiport. The three of us found a spot though, got our food, and sat down to eat. My younger brother, Eric, told me that he has been reading through his Bible everyday for the last several months and has already made it to 2 Kings. Talking about the Bible and different questions he had sparked a conversation about faith between the three of us that must have lasted an hour or so.

3:30 rolled around rather quickly and we took our places in our first class seats that we were given as a part of the deal. I don't really understand the whole first class thing. You spend possibly hundreds of dollars so that you can have a little leg room for a couple hours and get an extra pop. I think it has a lot more to do with status. See the thing is that first class people go on the plane first (how this is a luxury doesn't make sense to me), so maybe some people get a kick out of having everyone walking back to coach seeing them in first class and thinking that they have a better life than them. I honestly felt like a jerk as the stewardess was handing me a coke (first class people get a drink to begin the flight) and people were walking past to the back of the plane.

Well we landed in Boston and then had to get a taxi. Continental was shelling out $360 for this drive to Portland. Our cab driver was a black man who had permed hair that went down to his neck. He casually mentioned that our voucher did not cover the gratuity. After texting my mom to see how much you tip a cab driver, I ended up giving this guy $40. I guess it is a small price to pay for the $400 voucher that I will be using to fly back from California. We got dropped off in Portland to pick up my brother's suitcase, and then grabbed another free (aside from tip again) cab to take us to our house. This driver was actually from Kenya, Africa. He and another guy were speaking Samali to each other before we got in the car, and he told me that he came here in 2004. There are like 3 black people in Maine, so it was cool to see that they at least doubled that a few years back. After it became apparent that he didn't understand me that well after my first few questions, I went back to reading as I was not feeling up to trying to force the conversation. He was a really nice guy though and we tipped him a little extra.

So we finally arrived in Maine around 8:30 last night. My brother Eric and I went kayaking together around the lake today. We talked about politics, careers, money, and faith. I told him how I thought living like this doesn't make any sense in light of people dying around the world. I explained how I struggle a lot with being surrounded by wealth, and how if I don't go with it some I will look like a jerk. The hardest part is that I know I like it. Not all of it. I definitly don't like the isolation, or the apparent death/coldness that comes with it, or the arrogance, or the lack of love. Yet still there are parts I like, and I don't like that I like it.

Anyway, leaving for Cali in one week exactly.