original post date :: 8.1.10
I’ve never flown before this week..well not that I can remember anyways. My stepdad took me to the airport Thursday morning and I was strangely calm. I had been waiting for this weekend since May. And it was finally here.
Things started out rocky, with the airline calling me to confirm that my flight had been delayed by two hours. I wouldn’t arrive in Omaha till 530, instead of the original 3oclock. I said “no big deal,” made it through security, and waited.
The first person I met was a man in the active army, the man sitting next to me on the plane from LR to Dallas. It was uplifting knowing that he was fimiliar with To Write Love and we talked until the plane got off the ground, then in went the headphones and out went the world. I was in a very good place for the first time in way to long.
The rest of my travels went smoothly and I was picked up by a car full of girls (and a dog) around 530 at the Omaha airport. We then continued to get lost through downtown Omaha trying to find the venue (Word Made Flesh) where the conference would be held at the next day. That was when Rich Sullivan, one of the TWL crew, asked us for a ride to best buy. 30 minutes in Omaha and I could already tell the bond between me and these people were going to be strong beyond belief.
So 6 people, a dog, and a car ride across town and we were laughing so hard we could barely breathe. The dog and Steffanie were hanging out the window, there was a creepy shirtless man on the streetcorner that caught us taking a picture of him, and we almost went the wrong day down the one way street.
After that trip, however, the night got considerably calm. Then Friday came, and day 1 of move started out challenging, bringing up topics such as brokenness, addiction, depression, and (after a very cheerful rendition of “happy birthday” to taylor) anxiety. Lunch break was when i first had the confirmation that I was going to come out of this with a few new strong relationships..first Amber, Brett, Dan, Stephanie and I got lost in downtown Omaha, then we chose to eat at Old Chicago (mistake #1). We asked for our ticket before we even got our orders, then immedietely after they served us our food, we asked for togoboxes. :) We felt so bad that we gave our waiter a big tip and ended up practically RUNNING back to WMF.
Conference ended at five, and me & amber made plans with the boys later that night and split. We went by Heathers apt to get our bags, walmart to get bathingsuits and drinks, and headed to Bretts suite at one of the downtown hotels. That was when Heather wrote on my Facebook: “Were at the slides, we have wax paper.” We were out the door within minutes. Now, in the hour that we were there, the boys developed a nice and healthy love/hate relatiohship with the 30ft long metal slides. It was brilliance. :) We went back to the hotel for 30 minutes of swimming, got kicked out by the “i-just-got-premoted-and-take-my-job-to-seriously” manager at 12:05, because the pool was apparently closed, and headed back to the room. At that point, I’m not even sure I can give you exact points of what was said between the four of us. Brett kept jumping on the bed, Dan flipped out when he realized the window to our third floor suite opened a good 2.5ft wide and was large enough for me and amber to stand in it at the same time. Amber fell in and out of sleep and I was trying to keep our comforter on our bed, and not on top of dan who was on the floor beside us. By 430, we realized we needed to be up in two and a half hours for day two, so we finally decided to crash.
Saturday was a heavy day for me, and the others as well. Self injury, eating disorders, and suicide were the topics of interest and everyone at our table had some experience with atleast one of the three. We stayed strong though, and on lunch break (didnt get lost this time!) ended up at a mongolian grill, music store, and one badass candy store.! On the way back to WMF, we found out Brett had to leave us that night. We made plans for dinner before he had to head out and finished the conference with a photoshoot with the team. Speghetti Works for dinner was delicious and we were sad to see Brett leave us.
I stayed my third and last night in Omaha at the DoubleTree Hotel with Dan and Amber, walking around downtown Omaha for the remainder of the night. Cops had the large park next to the hotel blocked off on every corner and when Dan downloaded the police radio, we heard that there had been a shooting.
so much for nothing happening in Omaha…
That was 12 hours ago, and now I’m sitting alone in Starbucks on 15th and Douglas waiting on Wendy to take me to the zoo. :) Dan left me and Amber at the hotel around 5 this morning and around 630, me and Amber got “asked to leave” by security for sleeping in the lobby. XC We walked to starbucks and waited here for her ride back to Indianapolis. She left about two hours ago, after 2 loaded-with-caffiene grande icedcoffees, two scones, two doughnuts, lots of pictures, and about a million hugs.
For me, this trip brought on a whole new feeling that I haven’t really felt in a while: wanted by more than just my best friend. I’m leaving Omahe tonight with a whole new set of family. I will always cherish them for the change they’ve made in my life in these short 4 days.
Love is the movement. It’s really that simple.
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