Bends In The Road

Editors Note: The post and photos this week are by Daniel.

Bam, bam, bam. Knocking on my door makes only slightly more noise than the hum of my fan. Maybe if I roll over they’ll go away. No such luck.

“Daniel, time to eat,” Mom yells. “10:30 is way too early to eat,” I mumble, as I roll out of bed, grab a shirt and slip on some shoes.

Today is Saturday. David is coming over and I have a party to go to. Breakfast on Saturdays is always Tea and such. Post breakfast consists of chores and straightening up my room. Not that it needs it.

The electricity goes out just as we are pulling out to pickup David, and wouldn’t you know it the gate won’t open. So we wait for the gate to be manually opened. Once the gate is opened we go, pick up David and get back just in time to time watch the second half of the US vs. Panama (The US won 2-1, yes!). After we ate comida we headed over to the party, which wasn’t much of a party considering everyone left before we got there. Not a problem though, we just talked and threw around the football which was fun until I turned around to see the football spiraling toward my face. The sun had already set and it was getting dark when we hailed a cab to take us home.

David had asked earlier if I wanted to go bowling with him and another group tonight. I had mentioned it to my parents before we left. I thought they would say “yes”, the only thing was that the special deal at the bowling ally was from 10pm-1am. “Guess we’ll know what my parents decided when we get home,” I said. David nodded.

Sure enough Dad said it was fine. On the way to David’s house, he said something about don’t be out late because he would be up waiting for me. I smiled to myself. I wonder if 1:30 was too late. When we got to the Servin’s house, David needed to practice keyboard for church tomorrow. It wasn’t a problem; I just waited in the living room watching another soccer game.

Finally, the guy comes in a two seat pickup truck and there are five of us counting him. So David and I rode in the back of the truck with the smell of tacos and night air. Meanwhile our conversation was lost in the roar of the truck. When we got there the place was packed. Since the other people weren’t there yet we sat and talked.

Then David said, “Why don’t you stay the night?” Why not, I mean it is getting late. “Is that ok with your folks?” I asked, “Yes.” Well that being said Dad agreed and later mentioned that he thought if I was going to be out that late why not spend the night anyway.

Well I’m not much of a bowler. In fact I didn’t crack one hundred in the two games we played, but we still had fun and it was fun to watch David win a game. While every one started a third game David and I walked over to the pool tables. Pool is more my game so it felt good when I beat him the three games we played by three or more balls. I guess since winning is better then losing then pool is better than bowling.

We got home around 1:30 and I headed straight for bed. It was then that I realized I had no change of clothes, no toothbrush or toothpaste, no deodorant etc. What next? I don’t remember a lot about that night except that the room was hot and stuffy, I smelled like smoke, the mattress tilted to one side which may have contributed to my tossing and turning in the night, and I learned that David snores, but it’s all good.

When I woke up it was almost 9:00. “Hmm…That’s odd” I thought, “They have to leave in an hour and no one is up.” A few minutes later David told me it was a good time for a shower and threw me his towel. I think my lack of sleep may have kept me from asking, “Can I have a clean towel?” Thankfully Mrs. Servin handed me a clean towel before I walked into the bathroom (I knew I always liked her). I just wish there had been some soap, but there was shampoo and my hair was what smelled anyway.

Breakfast flew by with a ham and cheese sandwich, and a glass of chocolate milk. Everyone was rushing to get out the door, put the music equipment into the taxi and get loaded up. Well we got there late, set up the church, finished up the service, and had a great Father’s day meal (complete with pumpkin pie). I’ll never forget the great time I had with David - from hanging out Saturday, bowling, spending the night, and the Sunday morning dash.

So I’ll remember to love God, be flexible, and enjoy life for what it is, because we never know when we are coming up on the end of the road.


*Special thanks to Deborah Mangum for helping me to organize my thoughts on paper. Check out her blog at http://www.deborahmangum.blogspot.com/.