the beginning of the middle

First post -- okay -- are you ready, guys? 

I think I am..seatbelts..check..cozy beverages..yep..chill tunes on low..good to go.

Seeing as how this place was semi-inspired by the old joint-blog with the brothers of days gone by, I feel it somehow appropriate to log a similar "first post."  I believe the one on JFTK was a literal copy & paste of the msn conversation in which Jamison & I came up with it -- and here, for history (and nostalgia)'s sake, I will record the founding events of the velvet lounge.....

It was a dark and stormy night...only not stormy at all, and in fact pretty miraculously pleasant for a mid-October evening...when Ruthi and Logan and Shaina, at the apex of their delicious reunion day together, piled into the Maramma (<--the maroon gramma car, for reference's sake that will momentarily become relevant).  Off they jaunted, through the zany one-way streets of Swift Current, past the Tim Horton's they meant to stop at, back around to said Tim's where the token cozy beverages were procured, and then beyond the borders of experience, reason, and the very vicinity in which "life makes sense"...drifting dreamily down darkened highways, towards the place that maybe made the least sense, all things considered.  

Soft serenades by Band of Horses and the Bravest Ghost wound around, beneath layers of reminiscence and conversation, stirred only by contented sighs and Ruthi's bare feet, dangling and dipping from her perch on the couch -- I mean, the back seat.  And here, in a magical mutual moment, was granted to us: the velvet lounge.  (I guess I'll have to pull back from the mystical description for a second to digress and describe that the glamourous Maramma contains luxurious bonus features such as velvetty soft plush interior, which often evokes sentiments of friends' parents' outdated basements, and that despite its sporty 2-door facade, it houses seating that is dangerous to the sleep-inclined...)   In any case, there we found ourselves, in a beautiful maroon haze, a cozy little place where our hearts found rest at the same time they were transported to old and new and altogether nonexistent destinations.  (I'm pretty sure I'll be referring to Millar as Narnia for the remainder of my acquaintanceship with it.) (Logan, this makes me feel that I need to visit it when there is snow..preferably snow falling in fluffy chunks from the sky..you bring the Tumnus, I'll bring the Turkish Delight?)  

Oh friends, here is where I get cheesy and filled with love, and pause to tell you that on numerous occasions today (the day after this delightful happening) I had to just stop and simply say, "thank you so much, God."  I want you guys to know that, because though the day we had together seemed so short and we wished so hard for it to tarry on, in my heart and memory it was richer and fuller than many solid weeks I've spent of late.  Thank you so mega much for being my darling honest fearless friends, pouring out God's small and simple blessings through the sharing of the things you love, the things he loves you through, because in doing so you have loved me and each other so well :)   I'm so glad we share friendship(s) among one another that seem to exist outside of time and geography, it makes my heart happy when the Spirit bonds strongly to itself in its "separate homes" despite the distance that may appear to separate them...if that makes sense?  I hope it does.  It's something I like to see and I hope you see and appreciate it too :) 

And that is a part of "the beginning of the middle" I think -- the beginning of the middle of our peculiar comeradery.  Here we go.  I pray that this funny forum will be very like the physical "velvet lounge" and that it will provide a space for our spirits (for the Spirit) to converge and mingle in that nourishing casual way it seems to like to between us "kinsfolk"  ;D 

 <3 <3 <3