Splendor Sine Occasu

I had a most glorious time in Canada. I'm sure that you can't go to Canada and have a terrible time, but still, it was amazing. A lot of wonderful things happened, I grew closer to friends, and my respect for some people grew. It really was an incredible experience.

The driving time was definitely worth it. It didn't really feel all that long once we got there, and even the bus ride back wasn't too bad. But let me be more specific about the time I had there. (I'll include inside jokes and funny stories later, this is more informational and spiritual.)

Thursday:We left the school at a little after five. Nothing significant happened on the bus ride, but once we got to Victoria things picked up a little. We actually stayed in a rental house in Sooke (13 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, 16000 sq. ft., 90 acres right on the bay, but no hot water). That was really fun. When we got there everyone started running around and looking at rooms and stuff, and exploring the many secret passageways we found. Then a small group of us sang under the dome in the Columbus room, which wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. It sounded cool, but picked up every flaw, which is useful, but it didn't sound that good. We discovered later that down in the basement where the sopranos held their sectional the sound was much better, so that was where we rehearsed that one day. After that we pretty much hung around and explored while some people went shopping for dinner. There was a lot of mischief and fun going on in different places. There were some disappointments, the house was so big that everyone sort of spread out and we didn't hang out as a group very much. And some people disappeared and we didn't get to really hang out with them at all, but oh well. No regrets.

Friday:We got to sleep in a bit, that was nice, and then we split up for sectionals. After about an hour of rehearsal, we met again and sang through some songs before heading out for a day in Victoria. This was by far the highlight of the trip. So much happened on this day, that it was kind of hard for me emotionally, and I had to go off by myself for a while afterwards. Anyway. We wandered around downtown for a while, shopping or finding somewhere to eat. Jacobson, Mollie, Jeff and I all went to a Greek restaurant that was very good, and then headed out to find gelato. After that, we all met at Parliament, where the tour was very boring, but what happened after makes up for all the ill in my life.

We all stood in a circle in the middle of Parliament, in a room with a high dome ceiling and a circular balcony in the middle looking down to the floor below. We started singing and words cannot describe what happened there. We started by singing Water Night, and when we cut off beautiful chords would spin around our heads and echo off the walls. It was hard to look at people, feeling what I felt. People would stop what they were doing to see, security guards would walk by and stop to listen. And then we sang Os Justi. At one point during the song I looked over at KC Harris, and he was crying. I watched as he had trouble singing so he would stop and just listen. I had a hard time keeping it together after that so I would close my eyes and feel the spirit of the music wash over me. And when we finished with the song, and sang the chant, I felt that nothing else in the world was as strong as the feeling of peace in the room. We were praising the Lord. The alleluias proceeding from our lips were praises of love and gratitude for our Heavenly Father. Nothing else. It was the Lord that was with us that day, and it was He to whom we were singing. I was trembling afterwards. And for the rest of the day I couldn't think about much else than my love for the Savior. I would sit and stare out the window on the bus and talk to no one. Then, when my heart was so full that I could feel it in my throat, I was told that the Latin phrase cloaking the British Columbia coat of arms meant this: Beauty Without End. Tears came to my eyes, for what else is more significant and appropriate? Beauty Without End. The music of our voices will be echoing in that building forever.

When we got home, I slipped away and walked along the bay until I found a small rock that was raised from the rocky beach. I climbed up onto it and sat there for a very long time, thinking about my life and watching a gorgeous sunset. When the sun had finally slipped away, I climbed the hill and explored the woods for a time, before I headed back to the beach. But on my way I found a tree, whose trunk curved up and then a single branch curved off to the left sideways and then grew up, so that there was a perfect perch for me to sit on. This I did, and watched as the sky grew steadily darker and the lights came on across the bay. And as I was sitting on that tree, I noticed something on the branch just by my seat. A hand, outlined in reddish powder (not unlike the painting that Rafiki does of Simba in the Lion King) was there. A hand, that when I placed mine upon it, fit mine perfectly. It was almost as if it were signifying that I was in the right place, that the tree was meant for me. It was amazing.

I then headed back to the house and walked about and talked with Jeffrey, ate dinner, and read for while. We watched half of Rent before Jacobson sent us to bed. However, we did not go to sleep. The girls in our room (Darcy, Kristy, Meghan, Jillian, Mollie, Paige and I) all sat up in our bed (with the exception of Kristy who was sleeping) and talked. It was great fun. We got yelled at twice but ignored it. We finally went to bed at about 3:30.

Saturday:Almost as good as Friday. We went to Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria which was really cool and almost creepy. It kind of reminded me of the sorcerer's house in the BBC version of Chronicles of Narnia, with all the woodwork. We sang again in that house, in the ballroom, but nothing can rival our experience in Parliament. After that, we went back downtown to do more shopping and get lunch, where KC, Jeff, Isha and I ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which was very good. Then we headed to the Butchart Gardens. That were nice, but I found them rather boring. I really don't like well-manicured gardens, the ones where everything is perfect. I like it better almost overgrown, a little disheveled, almost haphazard. I really liked the Japanese Garden, because it was like that, but there was an overwhelming sense of peace about the whole place, an assurance of calm. I must say, however, that walking over the hill and looking down into the Sunken Garden was incredible. It kind of surprised me, but a wonderful surprise. We walked around the garden for some time, and it was barely drizzling, so it was quite enjoyable. After that, we pretty tired, so Paige, Mollie, and I tried to take a nap, which didn't work very well. Finally, Steven came and got us for dinner, but the second batch wasn't ready, so we went to his room and lay down on his bed and listened to Ben and him play guitar for a while. Then when we got dinner, Mollie and I decided to be anti-social (and I wanted to talk to her) so we went downstairs to eat and talk, until people followed us and bugged us, so we went and found a room that we could lock ourselves into and talk. It was actually really nice, we sorted some things out and got a lot closer. With everything being said, we went back to the room and jumped on the bed, and then started running around the house. We went to the Columbus room where I tried to slide across the floor on my pillow (with disastrous results) and then started a game of hide and seek pillow fight, where you hide and then once the person finds you, you start pillow fighting. It was a lot of fun, but really exhausting. We didn't have a curfew this night, and I didn't want to join the rave they were having downstairs (it was rather frightening, I went in for a couple seconds, then left) and so went and sat with Steven and Mollie and Jeff and we talked for a while, and then Paige joined us and started coloring. We had fun, because everyone started gathering in that little room. We ate fudgesicles and listened to KC's story of how he asked Ellyn to prom and I got asked to prom by Batman. Overall, it was a fun time, with everyone finally coming together for a while. Then we got sent to bed at about four, and we left at nine the next day. We traveled all day and got home around 11:45 and all crashed.

Overall, it was an amazing trip, with many good experiences and wonderful people. I couldn't have asked for anything better. And though some bad things happened, that's what happens. It makes you appreciate the good more when you can compare it to the bad. I won't forget this trip, any time soon, and I am so thankful that I was able to go on it, to learn more about myself and others, and to feel the Spirit that strongly in music and sunsets and tears. Just look around and you will truly see what is there for us. Beauty Without End.


"Sure, it's money runs the world, but it is music that holds down the friction." ~The Anthem Sprinters