Castles and Cooking [Legit]

So sorry that this post is long overdue, but ever since I got my heart beating again I've been a bit busy trying to fill my heart with as much love, beauty, and fire as possible. Not to mention that I've also been getting all the bits and pieces of my life that were left over after that horrible, nuclear fallout and putting it back together as best as I can.

Now onto the meat and potatoes.

A great piece of advice that I got from reading John Eldredge's Waking the Dead was that you need to have allies, because we're born into a world at war, spiritually speaking (lots to explain, I know. I'll eventually get crackin' on that,too. It'd be easier if you would just read Waking the Dead). He talks about having a fellowship, simply and sincerely because no one can do it alone, no one can face life alone. He explains it so much better in his book, but the idea is that we all need to have band of brethren, a team, a fellowship, a spiritual family. "Think of Frodo or Neo or Caspian or Jesus. Imagine you are surrounded by a small company of friends who you know well. They understand that we all are at war, know that the purposes of God are to bring a man or a woman fully alive, and are living by sheer necessity and joy in the Four Streams. They fight for you and you for them. Imagine you could have a little fellowship of the heart. Would you want it if it were available?" (Waking the Dead, 188).

I took this message and ran with it. So I started to get back in touch with my dearest friends; I had lost touch with them when I went incognito from my heart's death. To be honest, I considered giving up and just breaking my ties with all of them and getting new friends. It wasn't until I had settled what I needed to settle with God and with myself that I woke up from that horrible, horrible trance and went looking for my friends again.

It was easy to start hanging out with them, mainly because they started looking for me first, haha. Katrina mentioned to me that she and Allison had actually considered dropping by at Subway if I didn't reply to their Facebook messages or texts. But I did, and so we started hanging out and had a game night. Sadly though, it wasn't like I expected. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I thought that I could just show up after having life breathed into me again and just ooze joy and love out of my curly locks of hair and everything would be alright between my friends and I. No wait, I expected things to be better than before. They weren't. It was awkward (just a wee bit). I was awkward.

I felt really disappointed with myself afterward, and what's worse I started to doubt that I had even gotten back to my senses at all. I started to doubt everything that I had gone through, all the healing, and I was in danger of going back to being as good as dead inside. God simply laughed it off and plucked me off the ledge of the black hole I was about to willingly plunge into and He set me straight. He filled me with confidence. More importantly, He filled me with faith. God put a warm, but stern hand on my shoulder and said,"You're doing the right thing, keep going. You felt awkward with them because you've been living from a false self lately. You have to get to know them all over again, and you have to let them get to know you all over again, this time the REAL you. The you that I had in mind when I made you."

And that's how I got around to throwing a get-together for the first time. :D

I think it went pretty well. I was SUPER freaking out and going bananas, similar to how I imagine a baby octopus feels when it's born and discovers it has eight legs and freaks out because he doesn't know what he's supposed to do with so many legs/arms/whatever they are. I didn't think I made the food too well, I felt like my house wasn't nice enough, that my backyard patio wouldn't be comfortable enough, etc etc etc. Katrina got here first and we hung out for a bit and that calmed me down. However it didn't last long because we sat there for like an hour waiting for everyone else. Then Juan showed up. I felt better (BUT, I was really rude. I didn't know how to deal with my nerves. I made Juan serve himself and didn't bother to get up to show him where everything was. Yeah, I'm a douche. I know). A while later, Allison and Chris showed up, but they looked like they weren't all too stoked to be there. Started turning into a baby octopus again.

Then magic happened. Not the creepy kind of magic like Chris Angel, but the good kind, like Gandalf. Or Dumbledore whenever he did something seriously badarse. Magic in the form of a good time between friends. We all started telling stories, laughing, sharing. I think it also helped that I drank 2 1/2 winecoolers (1 1/2 were someone else's) and since I'm such a lightweight I was giddy in no time. I had a lot of fun. In fact, I felt so good that when Chris suggested we play the Wii at his apartment I was all for it. We went and did that, and it got even better because Andrew decided to join in and it felt like old times again. My heart filled up to the brim with love for all of my friends that night.


Chris and Allison told us they were going to Hearst Castle the next day and when Katrina and I said, "AW, that sounds like fun, wish we could have gone, too" Chris said, "There's still time, you can still buy a ticket and come along if you want. I jumped in it. I was afraid of being the third wheel, but I really want to spend time with them and Hearst Castle sounded like fun.

So next day, that's what we did. Let me just recap for you in a nutshell what went down: naps on the sunny backseat of Chris' car on the drive there, Heart Castle tour that took my breath away (especially the gardens), Moonstone beach where I got to walk in the water a bit and collected lots of cool rocks like a nerdfart, Morro Bay, delicious dinner, LOADS OF LAUGHING, "Hey cows, you lookin' GOOOOOOD" (Chris), "Double Rainbow" jokes all the way, lots of singing in the car, more refreshing car naps, Allison's photography, getting to watch Allison and Chris together (makes my heart get all fuzzy and warm since I love them both so much), "I love you whole lots", sunset, nightfall, and best of all the company of my friends. I only wish Katrina, Juan, Chuy, Andrew and one or two more people had gone as well so it would have been even more amazeballs :D  I also wish I had opened up more, but I wasn't quite there yet. Still a little ways to go at that point. I hope Allison and Chris didn't look at me like a third wheel, but I know they had fun :)

Castles and Cooking (little teaser)

Oh man, these past two days were amazeballs. So much to tell. Photos to share. Love to spread around.

But right now it's 1:18 am, I work tomorrow in the morning and again at night...sooooooooo....yeah the amazement will have to wait til tomorrow.

I will let you in on a little secret though, I healed a good deal of my heart. :D YEUH.

The First Heartbeat Starts with a Fist to the Face

Let me just tell you right now, guard your heart like a baby momma, because it is one painful bixatch to get it beating again once it stops.

It took a mighty hard slap to the face (not literally, though that might have done the trick and would have been less painful) and a lot of gut wrenching reality-facing to really, and I mean REALLY, get me out of the dark place my mind had been nesting in for the last 8 months. I thought that I had already sort of started to heal on my own, but I was horribly, horribly wrong.

I have been treating a lot of people like caca. Actually, not just people, but everything in general. I became consumed by so much anger, stemming from the pain of heartbreak and disappointment from the past two years, that last month that anger started to really take its hold. It felt like I was trapped behind giant black walls in every direction, walls made completely out of that fury, disappointment, bitterness, heartbreak, and sadness. However, it wasn't until last week or so that that fury welling up inside of me came lashing out like a fiendish blaze. I almost lost everything. My parents tried to get me to see how I had been acting lately. I almost lost my job for not controlling my temper at work. Obviously I wasn't that great to be around with my friends. I had nightmares. I gained a ton of weight. I would sit around and do virtually nothing all day. My heart was being consumed by flames of furious anger, and it was too much to hold back anymore. Basically, three years' worth of fury came blasting out of me and started a blaze that I had lost control of and couldn't put out.

Then my mom started channeling (the Holy Spirit). Let me just say this right now to get it out of the way, because I'm sure that a lot of you were with me until that last sentence, haha. My mom channels the Holy Spirit. It's like Heaven comes down to smack me around whenever she does it. I used to think it was just her "believing" she could do that sort of thing, but it's happened for a few years now that every single time she starts to channel, I get told about things that NO ONE knows. I mean, things that are buried really deep inside my heart that only I would know. That sounds cliche, but it's eerily true. My affair with that married man was brought up this time. I stood there with my mouth open. 

The Holy Spirit said a lot of things, and tried to get me to understand, the nice way. Sadly, my anger was too much, I kept rolling my eyes and standing there defiantly, just angry through and through. Then the Holy Spirit said, "Fine. I can see you are stubborn. You always are. But this time you have gone too far. If you think you can do it alone, then so be it. We have been holding you up, supporting you unseen. Since you lash out at the hand of God, then we will retrieve Our hand and let it be what may to you."

My heart sank. I went to my room and got ready for bed. While I was lying there, I started to cry. So I prayed...and prayed, but it didn't seem to help at all. Then the words came tumbling out of my mouth like little pebbles of truth, "I'm so....ANGRY at You. I'm sorry, but I am so completely....FURIOUS with You, God." And that's when the real tears started. I told God everything, about how I was angry that He didn't warn me enough about X (the man I told you about before, the one who I shouldn't have fallen in love with, the one who broke my heart and left my dreams for a future shattered around me). I was angry that He let X come into my life, knowing how lonely I was and likely to be foolish. I was angry at the possibility that it was His test for me and that I failed miserably and only ended up in pain and anguish. I told God about all of it. Then the cornerstone of truth holding up those angry, furious walls that were keeping my heart locked in and breathless shot like an arrow out of my lips, "I'm angry because I gave my heart away, all of it, to the wrong man. I wasted all of what I had inside on something that caused me so much pain. I'm angry for being so foolish with my heart."

Once I had said that, I felt like...I know it's going to sound so weird to you, but I felt like Heaven was doing back-flips of joy. Like They had been waiting all along to for me to come to terms with that. That was the magic password to freedom. All that was left was to ask for help. So that's what I did. I asked God to use His Mighty hands to tear apart the walls that were keeping me from Him, those walls that were so tall and seemingly endless, that only God could smite. Those walls were the reason that I hadn't been able to pray in so long, the reason why it felt like I didn't even know how to pray anymore. I called out to God, and He came charging in, white horse and everything, to my rescue. Then I asked Him to breathe life into my heart once again, for it had stopped beating long ago.

And that's sort of where things are now.

Let's Get Crackin'

Oh man, where do I even begin? Let's just keep it simple. I used to be awesome. Not as awesome as the Most Interesting Man in the World (you know, the Dos Equis guy). I mean, that guy is amazeballs. But I used to be somewhat quirky, quick-witted, entertaining, and positive. I was good at telling stories, whether real, ridiculous, or ridiculously real. I was hyper all the time, excited, just fun to be around. I was a better friend (I think, I need to double-check that tomorrow). My time was spent painting, writing cleverly, going out to explore different parts of town, playing soccer and basketball, and dreaming. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but I guess it's more the attitude that went along with all those things that made me....awesome. I remember when I used to hang out with Allison and Katrina, and there was so much to talk about, even if it was just random, sporadic tidbits that sprung from our minds. I remember what I was like on the inside, even though it was sometimes dark and angry (youth angst! lol) I remember having hope for a future and I could see clearly all the many potential paths that were laid out in front of me. The future seemed exciting. I'm not saying that I was super amazing or anything, but at least I had hope.

  

Flash forward to today and oh geez. I'm only a shell of what I used to be like. All that's left is the anger, frustration, temper, and hard-heartedness from that past that was never dealt with. Gone are the days when I used to dream. I don't dream anymore about anything. When I hang out with my friends, it takes all my energy to try to be upbeat and similar to how I used to be, but I feel so....shamefully fake when I do that. What is wrong with me? Has the past finally caught up to me?

However, I can't really blame it all on time or the past. There are a few other things that brought around the demise of my heart. Like falling in love with a man who I shouldn't have fallen in love with. He made me feel so full. Beautiful. Immortal. We talked about marriage, kids. I saw it all so clearly and I was filled to the brim with love and happiness. And then the wind blew just once, and it was all gone. He shredded my heart into microscopic confetti. It was the final of many wounds that had happened for years and years and years. My heart died and I had nothing left to offer anyone. I stayed out of sight for almost a year. It took me a long time to digest the fact that he was actually gone for good.

After that,  I don't know. I stopped having hope. I couldn't see myself in the future at all. I felt like I was already dead, like a zombie  (the lame, slow-walking kind that you can outrun, not even the cool kind that can run at super-human speed).

It really does take about a year to heal the heart, or rather to start the process. It's painfully slow. But the John Eldredge books put a lot of kick back in my arse (Waking the Dead). Now I'm seeking out my friends again, and soon I hope to start praying like I used t. I stopped praying when my universe split apart, when my heart stopped beating. To be honest, I tried quite a bit, cried a whole lot, but for some reason, it's like I don't even remember how to pray anymore. I'm completely disconnected. You can't exactly reach God without a heart.

So that is what this whole shebang is about: fighting for my heart back

Sincerely Sincere,

The [Zombie] Vidi

     

Quest for Awesome. The Beginning. Again.

 If you’re wondering how you got here...

Ask your parents, since I’m sure that they would be more professional at explaining not only the birds and the bees, but the miracle of birth as well.

If you’re wondering what this whole shabang is about, it’s just the beginning of a journey to find my awesomeness again, find something even better, or die trying, whichever comes first.

Unless...

Aww, you were expecting something awesome.

Me too.

Later beh behs,

Vidi