Faith Partly Restored

As I mentioned the Campbell’s were a family on the canoe trip with us, they were also the other victims of car vandalism. I could not have asked for a better family to experience such a sad moment of my life with. They stepped in to fill not only the very important understanding friend role but also the steady parent role in a way. It was nice to spend time with people that we not only liked but also were going through the exact same thing at the exact same time as we were. We followed them to the Hotel 8 where they were staying and they put us up in a room – which was way more than they needed to do. We were able to take a shower, which helped more than you would think. The water turned slightly brown that is how dirty I was. Once we were clean and a bit removed from the situation there was a knock on the door and we all went out to dinner together. We went to a pub / pizza place. We walked down to the car and I was again faced with the fact that I had no window and the glove box was on my knees. I tied a string to the glove box with a cross on it. Maybe that will detour anyone else who wants to attack my car. Each time I would shut the door it would make a startling shatter sound due to the glass that was trapped in the door itself. On the way to the place the wind was hitting my face and for the first time I did not enjoy it. I usually love to ride around with the window down but in this case it was just a reminder of the bad events and the fact that instead of continuing on our journey we were stagnant here in Grand Junction. Once we arrived at the resturaunt I tried to roll the window up to no avail. This atleast made me laugh at myslef so maybe all hope in my faith was not lost. It was a bummer that we were stuck because we had already paid for the next destination – Dead Horse Point. Once we arrived at the restaurant my spirits began to lift a bit. The Campbell’s are good for that. It was especially nice to be surrounded with children. They can lift any cloud it seems. Ian finally began to open up to Brad and I and we both enjoyed he and Leah’s stories. We felt bad for Leah because her bag with her stuffed dog was stolen. At dinner I started out with water but to my surprise both Leah and Ian ordered my favorite drink in the world, a Shirley Temple. I never order Shirley Temples, mostly because I know they can be a pain in the butt for wait-staff, but also I feel like a kid whenever I want them. I learned that you are never to old for Shirley Temples. But I figured this is one time when I should follow the crowd so I ordered one too. Leah giggled at me for this but I wanted cherries in my sprite too. The food was filling and actually pretty good. We are biased of course because we are spoiled with Mellow Mushroom in Boone, but they served a nice pie. After dinner we went back to the hotel. The telephones in the hotel were out. Of course the phones would be out seeing as how all of our chargers were stolen and Brad’s phone randomly short-circuited and was out of commission. Luckily the hotel had a charger that fit Diane’s phone so out of the six of us one had a working phone, but one is better than none. This is the main moment in time when Diane stepped in as more than a friend and managed to fill both friend mother roles. By the way, later when I did talk to my mom she was so thankful that we had people of this caliber with us. She took it upon herself to track down a company who would fix both of our windows at once. Considering it was Sunday there we had no luck. I tried to collect my thoughts in the room and having a bed helped. This of course was after Brad had fallen fast asleep as he usually does next to me. I turn to tell him something and find him out like a light. I tried to be quiet and typed a bit because my mind was racing so much that I just could not sleep yet. It was hard to not keep getting upset but before too long I fell fast asleep. When we woke up we decided that before we would do anything else we would get ready and check on the car. Remember that it had been sitting outside of the hotel all night without a window. We had all moved our valuables to the room but we left a lot in the car too because it was too much to carry everything. So we just left it to faith that we would still have the rest of our things. When we made it to our car the Campbell’s were already on top of things and Diane was on the phone with repair companies. It is strange how seeing them made me feel safe and calm. It is the same affect that family can have on you. We ate continental breakfast, which was nice not to have to worry about preparing anything. Diane found a company that could get it done that day so we took it. The rest of the companies informed her that it would be at least another day before they could come out to fix the cars. While we were getting our things together Diane came to inform me that there was something that Ian really wanted to show me. I guess he had seen my playing cards or my beach towel because when I entered their room Ian disappeared and returned with a complete set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. Splinter included. They were way awesome and we all sat around and talked about them for few minutes. I think they were impressed that I was in fact Michelangelo for Halloween last year and that I have my very own orange karate belt and nunchaku. We all stood on the curb with our baggage like over packed hitchhikers watching as the doors of our cars were removed and the new windows were placed in the place of the bits of shattered glass that were all that remained of the old windows. Ian and Leah watched and even helped the repairman. As sad as it was it was comforting to have them there with us. Ian became even more talkative and Leah showed us her stuffed animals that were not taken. While the cars were being operated on Leah and I talked about our favorite things. Three hundred dollars later it was time to part ways and hopefully continue both of our vacations in a positive way. We exchanged information and know that they will forever be in our hearts and hopefully we can have a friendship from coast to coast. We are hoping that this is the lowest point and that it can only go up from here.