Chapter 27

Every morning was the same thing.

I would poke my head over her cube and in my best Joey voice give her the
"How You Dooin?"

This would make her smile from ear to ear and that made my day. Every day. We started talking more and more each day and it was refreshing. I had gotten out of the worst relationship in the world and had a bit of a woman chip on my shoulder. She seemed like the all-American girl next door and the answer to a whole lot of my pain.

The only problem was she was moving in a month to Colorado. Once again I would have to make the decision of letting go or holding on. I held on.

She did move and I was crushed. I really felt like we had an amazing connection.

The emails back and forth started the week after she left. Then the phone calls. We had so much fun talking and laughing. I hadn't laughed with a woman for so long I had forgotten how great it felt.

I made the decision to take a trip to Colorado to see her. I was completely head over heels and it was refreshing.

Word got around our office about us. One of the project managers that she worked with came up to me one day.

What's the story with you and Krista?

I just told her like it was. We were planning on seeing each other soon. I was happy.

What happened to her boyfriend?

My heart sank for the first of many times.

I was on the phone about ten minutes later.

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She assured me over and over that her and her boyfriend had broken up and that was one of the main reasons she needed a change in location. She told me that she was totally in love with me and that I had nothing at all to worry about.

I was fine with that. I had no reason at all to think anything different. She could have told me the world was flat and I would have believed her.

We continued our phone conversations and emails for the next month and a half. I fly to Denver to spend five days with her.

We had the most incredible time together. We went to a Rockies baseball game and just really enjoyed being around each other. We went out at night and just had so much fun shooting pool and drinking beer. She was everything that I would want in a woman.

Everything.

I hated flying home. It was heartbreaking. She said that she would fly back to see me for Christmas. That was perfect.

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We had been playing in our practice pad for close to a year. Writing amazing amounts of music and getting a great sound together. It was time to play a show.

I started contacting clubs in Portland. Our first gig was going to be a Sunday night show.

Great night for a band!

The booking agent basically wanted to see if we could play and if we could bring a crowd. I worked in a call center with 1500 people. I think we would be able to bring some folks.

I walked all around the call center and delivered stuff. It was great. I wore headphones all day and just made people laugh. During my breaks I would got to my car and smoke some weed, put in some Clear Eyes and get on with my day.

I was well liked at this place. They called me the "Fax Bitch". I thought it was funny as hell.

Our guitar player, Mark, was a graphic designer and made some of the coolest flyers for our show. I handed out hundreds of them.

The Sunday that we played was great. It was a decent turn out and the soundman at the Club really dug our sound. The booking agent asked if we would like a Friday night gig.

What do you think?

They booked us for the next Friday night. Word spread about our band around my workplace.

That Friday night they had to turn people away at the door. It was the biggest turnout this place had ever had. You could see people outside hanging by the windows listening to us. It was not bad for a second gig. It felt so good to be on a stage again. It had been so many years.

The way we approached the Christian aspect of our music was not like a typical Christian band. We never came right out and said we were "Christian".

I guess "I" never came out and said it.

We were always a band of Christians and not a Christian band. Mark and Joe had amazing vision as to where they saw us fitting in. I just wanted to be singing and playing and feeling good once again.

I was still drinking.

I was still using drugs.

In my heart I knew that God wasn't going to be blessing this at all.

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By the time Krista came back to visit we were playing every week. It was great.

It was so good to see her again. We had lots planned for Christmas and New Years. She was my girlfriend. Really one of the only true girlfriends I have ever had. I didn't really date at all in High School and had one girlfriend in college. She was great.

We sat in my room and she shared pictures that she had taken when I was in Colorado and pictures of her nephew at Thanksgiving.

The picture she forgot to take out was one of her and Mike on the beaches of Hawaii.

Heart to the floor once again.

She tried to tell me it was an old picture but I am not a ignorant man. In the stack of photos was a proof page that showed the order of the pictures catching her in a heartbreaking lie.

It was a friends wedding. A mutual friend. We were both invited. I didn't want you to get worried so I didn't tell you he might be there.

The world is flat...

The world is flat...

flat.