I gazed out the window of that old maroon Chevy Lumina van and watched as that brown shotgun rancher became smaller and smaller. I intently stared at the layout of Abbottstown center as we went through the circle one last time. We passed my grandparent's house, traveled through New Oxford, and eventually reached historic Gettysburg. I absorbed every detail like a sponge, not knowing when I would see the places I loved, the streets I knew, or every little detail that made that part of Pennsylvania home for the past 10 years again. We motored along until we entered onto the Turnpike. I kept staring and watching as those Pidgeon hills rolled on by. I didn't appreciate them as much as I wished I did when I was a younger, but I would soon get hit with the harsh reality on how much I was going to miss them as my daily backdrop.
After a little over four long hours, the Ohio Welcomes You sign appeared and we once again entered the Buckeye State. The land became flat and the hills vanished. We soon entered Cleveland's city limits and shortly after, we were pulling into the driveway of the meeting hall. I was slightly confused as we did not end up at the house across from Impett Park. My parents probably mentioned it before, but it must've gone in one ear and out the other. Apparently, the family that was moving out of that house decided to stay a little longer, so we were moving in blind to the house at the entrance of the meeting hall driveway. Seems like chaos was unleashed from the word "go!"
The other mini surprise was that the night we arrived was also youth meeting night. And for the kids attending, instead of their standard meeting, they had the privalidge of helping us unloaded our U-Haul. It was really nice because with that many hands, that truck was unloaded quick. I remember not helping that much though. Instead, I grabbed my scooter and road it around like a maniac, trying to show off. I think other than Timothy telling me how cool my scooter was, I was mostly ignored. Well, except for Timothy's mom, Connie, who told me to stop racing it towards Warren Road, simply because she didn't want me ending up being a casualty of the heavy traffic.
Post unloading, there was still time for a short youth meeting. My parents and some of the other adults who helped stayed at the house to continue to set things up while Sarah, all the other local kids, and I went into the meeting hall. When everyone was inside, it then dawned on me how many kids there actually were. The number was somewhere north of 30. That was a big deal for me because coming from a small town in PA, it was rare that this many kids were in a local group.
I was introduced to a lot of people that night, mostly by Timothy, but my name retention was not the greatest. As cool as it was to meet all those kids, I had a flaw that I chose to carry. With the mindset of living in Cleveland for a year with the hope of moving back to PA, I didn't want to build strong friendships for the fear of leaving them behind. and not seeing them again. I was already feeling the effects of that with my PA friendships, but I would come to learn not to long down the road that my efforts were stupid and would be futile.
The meeting eventually adjourned and even though the sun had long ago set, the kids returned to the cool August air for some more rambunctiousness while waiting for parents to arrive. When the last of us began to leave, I found out I wouldn't be sleeping in my new dwelling that night. Because we moved in late to a house we hadn't seen prior, nothing was set up. The Miller's once again graciously offered their abode for us to stay in. That was probably the most exciting thing for me as I would be staying in Timothy's house yet again.
What was potentially one night turned into three as that's how long it took for the house to be livable for a family of seven. During that time I was already failing at my efforts to resist strong friendship. Timothy was more than happy to let me see some of world. He took me on a more in depth tour of the entire meeting hall property. Some of the highlights included a massive Dogwood tree right in front of the house we had just moved into. Beautiful pink blossoms in the spring and plenty of leafy green shade for the summer. Some of the branches had the names of the youth carved into them. We climbed that tree and hid among it's shade. While the Dogwood was grand, there was a smaller, yet meaningful tree way in the back of the property. A small Crab-apple tree. A little tree it may have been, but it was one of Timothy's favorite places to be. It was fun to climb and one could gorge themselves on the fruit it produced. That tree soon became a staple in my life. He also showed me some more of the cool spots in the meeting hall, but one location took the cake, even though we weren't technically supposed to access it. That location was the roof. There was no ladder nor opening that led up to it. One had to climb on smaller objects and scale walls and beams like a monkey to get up there. And the building was tall enough that when up there, you felt on top of the world. That roof would become a staple in my life, provide some interesting moments, and be a place of reprieve. More on that later.
At this point in the year, there were only 4 months left in 2003. Yet in those four months, I was going to go through many more life changes and experiences. Many of them will have get their own chapters because of their importance in my journey. I also have many more people to introduce you to, but I'm going to end this brief chapter with one introduction in particular. It occurred during Labor Day weekend of 2003. Like the church conference we attended every year in Virginia, they held one at the meeting hall in Cleveland as well. In order to accommodate the number of people that came and their children, the church would rent out a building off site where the kids would spend the day while the parents were in meetings. This year's location was a few miles away in a local high school known as Lakewood High School. It was a massive building with a huge gym at our disposal. I did not know it then, but this majestic building with the giant Johnny Appleseed figure mounted on the front would later play a key part in my life.
During the day, us kids would do a bunch of activities which ranged from athletics to crafts and everything in between. There were snack breaks at well and it was during one of these times that I would meet a fellow who would eventually become one of my best friends. The snack was laid out on a table and we all lined up beside it. We were handed our snacks and then had to find a table to sit at. I found Timothy at a table and naturally gravitated towards him. He was talking a laughing with someone else. Timothy paused his conversation and introduced me to his good friend Jeremiah. Jeremiah was still laughing and he caught his breath long enough to say hi. Then he promptly did something I thought strange. He opened his package of M&M's and instead of eating them, he immediately began to color-code them. Then one by one, he popped them in his mouth in order of the rainbow. I gave Timothy a strange look and then both of them burst into laughter again. Even though Jeremiah's strangeness was exuberant, it didn't put me off, but rather peaked my curiosity as someone I'd like to know better. And boy would I.
The next few chapters will introduce you to a swath of characters that flood into my life as well as some more big life changes, events, and a close out of 2003. From this life change to the point my age reflected the number 13, it seemed like someone put a brick on the pedal and left the car in drive. Buckle up because it's going to be a bumpy, curvy, and crazy ride.
