2010: The Back Story, and the Beginning.
Ok, of all the songs you’re going to see in these posts, this one probably means the least. And that’s not an insult to this song, its a compliment to the others. This is a song about beginnings, and it does fit well for this period.
In 2009, on November 20th, one of my friends, Eric, from high school died in a car accident, when he was driving home from his school up north. This was one of the things that set me off. Just a couple months before, I had gotten my license and it was one of those wake up calls to drive safer. But it was also a lot more than that. It was a reminder on how short life is. At his funeral, people talked about how much Eric loved people. He was a cool guy that didn’t have any drama, and everybody loved him.
During this time I was in school, although I was definitely bored with it. One of my big issues was, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and thus, I didn’t feel like I was making progress. I was borrowing my parents car when I could, but I needed to buy my own, quite desperately. I was frustrated with my lack of progress towards life I suppose.
November came and went, and I was worse for wear, but surviving. And as December crept up, I was still in a pretty volatile frame of mind. About halfway through the month, I got in a really bad fight with my dad. One of those fights that change everything. And so I decided that I was going to move out. I had no idea how I was going to do that, all I knew was that i was going to do it.
Several days later… after my parents convinced me to come back home at least for the time being, my dad gave me the car that I had been borrowing from my parents. An old Honda hatchback, ugly as all get out, but quite the reliable car as I found out.
And on December 27th, I left for a mission trip to Costa Rica, not having any idea what lay ahead of me, and leaving the rest of my life behind.
At 12:00 AM January 1st, 2010, I ushered in the new year at the mission house, overlooking the surrounding city. I had no idea that I had just set the tone for the entire next year. The craziness, the insanity, and the fact that I was about to do things I had never dreamed of, all were what I was unknowingly in store for. And I don’t regret a single moment of what was to follow.
