Darren LeBlanc

Sometimes I have to just sit back and laugh at life. I don’t feel like I get many boring days at all and today was definitely not boring. It started off by going home to my old house at lunch and finding a 20-something-year-old guy living in my house!!! Here’s the scoop:

When Kristin and I got married, Olivia and I moved into her place and I’m in the process of selling my house in Long Branch. Well, it’s been a few days since I’ve been over that house and you can imagine I was startled when I walk through the front door and see a young man ducking, like he is hiding behind my couch. I quickly asked him what he was doing and he said he was homeless. Apparently his name is Maurice and he came in through the basement window…but that was all I got before he ran out the front door and down the street. I tried to stop him, and talk…but no luck. Seems he had cleaned up my house a bit and was using it for a few days. Weird. So…I locked up and went back to work.

After work, I come home and pick up my girls for a nice dinner at an upscale restaurant in Rumson, NJ. Inside, we sat down and were enjoying our oysters when incident #2 of the day commences. Kristin ate this oyster and once it was off the shell…this odor took over the table. I am not exaggerating when I say that touching the shell alone made my hands smell so bad, I almost got sick. I had to put the plate on the floor and cover it with cloth napkins because the smell was so bad. The waiter was nice and took care of the situation, but he was apparently a little shaken up because then when he came to serve our meals a few minutes later, the filet mignon fell off the plate and down his chest. At this point, we pull him into the booth and tell him to relax because we are quite comfortable with things like this happening to us (not sure if it’s a curse or a blessing). We tell him about our honeymoon to Africa where we find ourselves stuck at a national border without the proper paperwork and have to hitch-hike from Zimbabwe into Botswana. We then tell him how the very next night on an island in Namibia, we lean on the railing of our lodge during a spontaneous and romantic little dance on our private deck….and the railing totally breaks. We fall backwards and break Kristin’s ribs….yup, 3 days into a 2 week honeymoon! Anyway, he seemed comforted by our impossible stories. We tipped him well :)

After dinner we decide to get ice cream. We visit a local favorite for their version of Dairy Queen’s Blizzard. The young man pulls the lever down on the machine and immediately chunks of Butterfinger and Oreo start flying out of the machine into his hair. Disheveled, he walks back to the counter with a grin: “yeah…the Crunchi-Cream isn’t really working.”

Yup – you can’t make this stuff up.

Anyway, enough of that. In the words of the prolific Marcus Langstine,

“Tis not to late to meet again,
to share the pages we once read
For meeting late is better far,
Than if ne’er should meet at all.”

It certainly has been a while, but better late than never. Part of me has missed writing and sharing my heart with so many wonderful people; whether it’s a deep thoughtful post or something to make you grin or smile. But my absence here should be seen as a good thing. This is been a good season for me. No, a great season…the best of my life. It’s a season of peace, joy, restoration, love, hope, growth and focus.

Kristin and I got married on May 23rd. Honestly, I can’t tell you how blessed Olivia and I are that God has brought such an amazing woman into our lives. She loves God and loves people like few I have met. She is a woman with compassion, leadership and virtue. She has a servant’s heart and the energy and dedication to love people the way God want’s us to. I’m falling more in love with her every day (and so is my little girl). Really, I couldn’t be happier…she is amazing. And then, as if I’m not happy enough for the relationship that she and I have, I am overwhelmed by the incredible connection between her and Olivia. It has been special since day one and it continues to grow.

So that’s it for now. I can’t say you will hear from me daily…but it’s likely to be more frequent than every 3 months!

PS….there is no such person as Marcus Langstine :)