amazing race

i'm sitting in the airport drinking my last canadian cup of tim horton's coffee double-double as i patiently wait to board my plane.  airports are interesting places.  there are so many questions that pop into my head (but that is another post in and of itself).  i was offered a flight voucher to take another plane since they overbooked this one, but i declined when i checked in.  i am kicking myself right now and hoping i have another opportunity to take a different flight. i'm exhausted and running on three hours of sleep.  sure, i could have gotten a full eight hours, but why when my precious time in canada was ticking away faster than i could walk.  so here i am inhaling tim horton's (or tom henry's as my dear friend tyler kept calling it).  

every trip lends itself to sundry life lessons, new friends, and key experiences that you will never again have in the same manner with the same people.  there are so countless things, happenings, friendships that i can take away from this trip.  if listed all the people i met and all the places i explored, you would be reading for days, but there are a few things that standout that i want to share with you all. i met david on our scavenger hunt around the city.  now, the point of this scavenger hunt was to talk to as many people as possible, learn as much about people as possible, and plant and water seeds at every opportunity.  naturally, i was thrilled at combining competition, talking, photography, jesus, and exploring. yeah, basically me wrapped up in a series of events.  now, the day of our “amazing race” was everything short of ideal. it was what you could call “white death” outside.  i  said “nice camera” to david because he was–in fact–holding a nikon d5100.  i went on my way and took a picture of the killer whale sculpture in downtown vancouver.  our paths cross again as i make my way to the olympic cauldron (which is another one of our destinations in the amazing race).  david and i start up a conversation and then some of my team members join along side me.  some how, david walks with us to the upper landing (a house on stilts) and then joins us for lunch.   over burgers and fries, david and i become best friends as we talk about family, mexico, fashion, the weather, photography, and nearly everything else under the sun.  we dubbed david our personal tour guide because he continued to show us around the city for the rest of the day.  though we were cold, wet, and snowy from walking outside all day visiting different places around town; we all had the time of our lives.  david showed us things that normal “tourists” wouldn’t get to see.  not only did david express how grateful he was to hang out with us for a day, we were blessed by him so much so that we all hung out the next day!  we met at the mall and all visited and talked our ears off.  david has been in vancouver for 2 years now but is moving to new york on the 28th of december.  he is actually picking up his mom and dad from the airport today so they can spend christmas with him.  his family runs a resort in mexico called el cid resorts and they are located in cozumel, cancun, and mazatlan.   his brother is living in mexico still, but he isn’t going to canada for the holidays.  i learned a lot more about david and his passion for life and people, but that could be a book by itself.  i am so grateful and blessed to get to meet david while on this trip.  all of us are going to be staying in contact with him, and i even think allie may go on her honeymoon and stay at el cid! it is fun to see the world become increasing smaller with each day that passes and every person i meet.

though we didn't "win" the scavenger hunt, i think we ultimately won because we really got to start a friendship with david.  everyone was genuinely touched by his friendliness and his generosity! (thanks for the timbits david!)