Happy to hear your Okay and what a great #IngressXMas story.. Happy Birthday

Happy to hear your Okay and what a great #IngressXMas story.. Happy Birthday

Originally shared by Charles V (CharChar)

Tonight is a night that I will always remember and I will always cherish. To prove to you how this is not just a game and it's so much more than that then listen to my story.

Tonight was the night of my Bday dinner with my #teamenlightened   friends. BUT it was so much more than just building L8 portals and then sitting down for some good food with friends. I was presented with a gift of more than just material value. I received the gift of LOVE and FRIENDSHIP. These are people that before #ingress  were  strangers to me but now are people I truly care about and tonight I learned how much they cared for me.

I was given 10 x $100 bills You might ask why people playing a game would come up with $1000 for another player. They crowdfunded this money because....

On the morning of December 13th, YES it was Friday the 13th, I got off work at 3am and headed home. Through the preceding hours there were a lot of discussion and strategizing over two of the Jarvis Shards that the Resistance had moved to Point Reyes on the California coast. Problem was we were close to losing them and there were no one close to the portal. So when I got home and started to unwind I decided to open the intel map and check to see how far exactly Pt. Reyes was. It was only just over an hour away. I announced to Brandon Downey  (agent d0gboy) that I can get there in an hour. I decided to make the trip so I got in my car and headed out. 

On the way I tried to stay abreast of what was going on while driving but couldn't do much because of the windy, foggy roads. When the time for the shards to move passed, I knew I still had time to get there. Two miles out tragedy struck. I was coming around a turn. It was foggy and the road was a little slippery. Then right there in front of me were two deer. I slammed the brakes and swerved to miss them and ended up slamming into the side of the mountain. More of a shock than any pain. I backed up and everything seemed fine until I drove forward and the wheel whipped sharply to the left. 

I announced to the team that I had crashed and a wave of "Oh NO...are you OK?" came through the hangouts. I stated that I was but I could not go any further to the portal because of the damage to the car. I turned around and started to limp back to civilization. On the way the unbelievable happened and it must have been the hand of Jarvis because I thought the shards would be lost. The Resistance for some reason shot a link to Hawaii and the shards moved......right into our hands. With the planning and execution of our great #teamenlightened    the shards ended up right where they were supposed to be.....at home at Cupid Span. 

The following day I took the car to the mechanic hoping that it wouldn't cost TOO much to fix. Well, it turns out I buckled the frame and the car has to be retired. 

At the #13Magnus  SF Anamoly there were plenty of #hugsforcharchar   but unbeknownst to me Troy Brophy  was putting together this fund as a surprise. This is a testament as to what this game has done. It has brought together strangers and help form bonds of friendship. 

Brandon Badger Joe Philley John Hanke Ingress NIA Ops 
#ingressreport