Farewell Virginia

It was our last week in Virginia. It's our second state completed. It was spent in Norfolk...or "Norfik" or "Norfuk" or "Nawfuk" if you pronounce it like the locals. It's kinda like how Louisville isn't pronounced "Lewis-ville" or Louie-ville", but "Lovol." Enough with the rhetoric.

So...it was our last week in VA. And it was incredible. It was our most consistent and steady week in the state - we've had a bit of a choppy time in Virginia.

First and foremost...the weather! It was glorious - highs of 50 - 60 degrees; the coldest it got was 35. I never thought I would be singing the praise of 50 degree weather, but in comparison to what we have experienced, that is luxury.

We had incredible hosts too. We first stayed with a random distant friend of sorts. The story starts back in Dec. 2003, when I first met Jason Russell and was introduced to Invisible Children. We stayed up all night with his Bible study kids (freshmen in HS) who were also a part of his family's theatre company, CYT.

I met this one kid who was the biggest goof of them all, Owen. I met him a few other times with Jason. Once was when I went to a production of "Pocahantas" that Jason directed and Owen was John Smith. The last I saw him was at J & Danica's wedding in Oct. 2004. Supposedly the last thing I said to him was, "if I ever find myself on Little Creek Road in Norfolk, VA, I'll call you."

Well, last week, I found myself on Little Creek Road. I didn't remember my past comment. I had however, for whatever reason, remembered that this strange Owen kid had moved to VA. I texted J and asked him where. Norfolk he replied. We got in touch with Owen and ended up staying at his house. He has since moved to NYC for school, but his family was more than welcoming. Our stay with them, however was the worst example of our schedule getting the best of us - leaving before the sun rises in the a.m., and returning near midnight, over and over again. We hate to use family's homes like bed and breakfasts, but it's hard to avoid sometimes. The Spruills were gracious though.

We had some incredible screenings that week. Great high schools - Granby, Norfolk Christian, Great Bridge, Ocean Lakes, etc. We did Norfolk Christian's chapel, then each of us went to classrooms to lead discussion for the rest of the day. I had a group of 6th graders who grilled me with questions and engaged in relevant discussion for a full hour. Then I was in a class of seniors who asked 1 question. I guess 6th graders aren't worried about looking cool yet.

Great Bridge really was great. Everyone at the school had already seen the film in a previous screening (that was a first). So we had a number of smaller class screenings where we showed the Update and the Emmy bracelet video (which is incredible, by the way).

They were ready for us. Sara, Haley and Sam had already raised over $2000 through sales of their own t-shirts. They had plastered every hall with handmade posters for IC. They even MADE invisible children. What? They wrapped themselves with packing tape and then cut out the shell - so it was a transparent tape person. Genius. Their vice principal was incredible and loved IC already. She was all about empowering her kids to run with it on their own, and keep hands-off.

We stayed with Sara's family and we were spoiled. I mean spoiled. We were welcomed with two huge batches of cookies and home cookin'. Then there were individual goodie baskets full of tons of candy, individual handbags filled with cologne and such (her mom worked for a fragrance company). It was like a 5 star hotel.

We awoke every morning to full breakfast. They let us borrow their mini-van for errands (which felt like a sports car after driving our huge van for 1.5 months). They made us huge meals per our request every night - surf and turf, homemade Carolina bbq...the list goes on.

What's more, the family was incredible. I got a chance to converse a good deal with Mr. Crow...or should I say Captain Crow. He was a C/O at the nation's 2nd largest naval base in Norfolk. From humble beginnings in rural Kentucky, Capt. Crow had proven himself one of the Navy's finest leaders. Despite being a military man, he was suprisingly humorous, witty and hilarious. I laughed at his jokes and personality as hard as I would a close friend. He also passed on some key wisdom on leadership that he had learned in his 30 years in the Navy.

Upon departure, they filled the back of our van with more candy, cookies, drinks and junk food that we could carry. We couldn't thank them enough. They were incredible.

If that wasn't enough standing on its own, we had our friend and "boss" Jessica Chan out from the office in San Diego to stay with us in Norfolk. It was great to see her and spend some quality time with our friend. We got lucky too that she came during one of the most amazing weeks of tour. :)

Norfolk will be missed..everything execpt the road. The roads and highways were the most confusing I've ever been on - we got lost more in 5 days that the whole of the rest of tour combined. I could go on for a long time...but I'll stop. This blog is already long enough.