Renaissance Festival

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These past few weeks have been incredibly hard for me personally. I've held myself hostage because a lot of issues I've suppressed.  The funny thing about hard times is that you see who your real friends are.  I am blessed to be surrounded by a number of people who have made me accountable to getting out there and still living. My dear friend, Janae, made plans for me to attend the Charlotte Renaissance Festival.  First of all, I've never been to ANY festival like this at all.  Second, my excitement was slightly muted by my current trials.  Third, I had a helluva good time. We ate food. We saw a show. We had Chicken and Chips. We bought candles. I took pictures like a tourist.  I remembered happiness for the first time in a very long time.  I have gratitude for the friends that God has sent me.  I am eternally thankful for these weekends.  Here are a few pictures from that awesome day!


The Day my Family Eloped

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This weekend we eloped; we being the whole entire family of me, Jordan, the kids, and the two fur kids. Our elopement was marked by flip-flops, sandy hair, shaggy sweaters, and two overly excited dogs. The Atlantic Ocean was our music and the menu was salt water and jelly fish.

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Around the World in 8 Whole Hours

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Once upon a time, I took a trip. The plan was to travel around the world and end up whenever my eyes opened. 

That place ended up being Dodge City, Kansas...Wyatt Earp City. The year was 2012.

I doubt people dream of this place when their whisked away at night to dream land.  But, this was it.  This was the place of my dreams.  The spot where my feet decided to plant for an hour or so. A place where the streets were paved with cobblestone, restaurants manned by the world, and abandoned beautiful buildings.

They were absolutely beautiful, the buildings, that is. They were red, blue, green and purple.  ROY G. BIV must have fathered enumerable painters and muralists who chose the street names and colors.  And, for a gal who liked the color red...oh red..oh how red abounded. I saw my life flash before me in a haze of understanding.

It made no sense...this town. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. It sat roughly 4 hours from Tulsa and 4 hours from the nearest city in Colorado (or maybe even the state line).  There were shops and theaters and bars.  The Italian restaurant was owned by a Hispanic Family. Yet, I saw no Mexican restaurants.  The streets were all frontier.  Cowboys lined door frames.  Bulls grazed on leaves of stone.  Auction blocks ran the town.  Many streets had no names.

This was my kind of randomness. My town. It was me.

Maybe that's why I stopped randomly on my way to nowhere in my general tour around the world.  Maybe I decided I needed a breath of fresh air. Ya..that was it.  Fresh air.