this is my last week in oklahoma city. two of my closest friends each wanted to celebrate the future with me one last time before I escape to nashville.
last wednesday, my friend aaron and his wife lorren, could take me somewhere.
where?
somewhere.
about thirty minutes later they were at my house, and thirty more minutes later we were at a casino in the middle of nowhere, oklahoma.
aaron slapped a twenty-dollar bill in my hands and told me to go to town. lorren and i lost our money in the penny slots after about 15 minutes.
it was certainly the most random farewell I have ever experienced…yet even though the cigarette smoke that permeated our clothes is now gone, our casino trip is something we’ll remember forever.
==
last night, i went over to blake and ally’s house. i’ve only known them a couple of months but every time we hang out, it’s well past 1 am when i leave.
after dinner, we got snow cones, checked out the house they’re moving into, and headed back to their home where we began discussing important theological issues such as communal living and scary times in tijuana. as i spoke of my accidental trip into the slums of mexico, a loud bang echoed in the living room and glass shattered above the couch where blake and ally sat.
blake threw ally on the ground, somehow i manged to fly about 25 feet and assume the army-crawl position in the kitchen whereas my friend looked ready to fly through the window and kick the crap out of whoever just shot/threw a bomb/threw a rock through the window.
as ally and i looked at each other, trying not to let the fear-induced swear words wake their four children up, blake approached the front door.
i suddenly remembered my life insurance policy ended thursday and got a little worried.
blake’s brother along with his children had decided to TP blake and ally’s yard, and for fun, he also pounded loudly on the window causing it to break.
at least nobody died.
but my car was TP’ed.
and after we recovered, continued our conversations about transgendered mexican prostitutes and (unrelated) marketing and target audiences, blake prayed over us and we drove home.
this is life.
the way it should be.
unscripted.
scary.
random.
fun.
memorable.
i feel completely unworthy of these friendships, yet completely grateful.
Comments
15 responses to “casinos and drive-by shootings: my friends know how to say goodbye”
Awesome! You won’t soon forget that night, relationships are a gift from God! They are the only thing that really matters, (imho!)
I wouldn’t say we lost our twenty bucks, Anne. I know exactly where it went! We had a blast with you and Chris. Our loss is Nashville’s gain. Love you guys!
So I have been MIA from you sweet blog for some time, but I wanted to wish you all the best in TN. I could not agree with you more than Life should be that way, I love it and your words are inspiration!
Wow, at my last going away fiesta, all I got was a pat on the back and a piece of ice cream cake.
:-)
Your friends seem to know how to send you away with pizazz.
Isn’t blogging a great way of sharing those crazy LIFE stories?
Can’t believe you’ll be here in one week! It’s exciting.
it must be hard to say good-bye to good friends. i hope that we in nashville will help make your life sweet here.
random indeed. and beautiful all the same!
lots of people are gonna miss you im sure. but now you get to go and bless even more!
Lord Bless You Anne!!!
So the window broke and you just got up and sat back down and continued to talk about Mexican prostitutes. Um, what about fixing the window or cleaning up the TP outside? Wow, remind me to never let his brother TP my house, thats insane. I bet he felt really bad afterwords, oh well.
Glad all are safe.
Fare-thee-well. Praying you and Chris’ safety, health, and happiness. …and especially great traveling mercies. …and God’s many blessings as you move to Tennessee. (That’s a beautiful state!!!)
“i suddenly remembered our life insurance policy ended thursday and got a little worried.”
lol.
I knew you were going to be fun, just didn’t realize you were going to be dangerous, too. lol. You’ll fit right in,in West Nashville.
See you Saturday.
did the kid live to “tp” again?
what a great way to end one stage of life, with a great story and unscripted conversation :)
I’m glad you spent your last few hours here with Blake and Ally. It’s always entertaining with those two!
Oh my word…that is hilarious to re-live! We are so excited to get to live close to you all again, since we didn’t have much time with you before you left!!! And about the grateful part-me too! Love ya girl!