Calm in Colorado
This past weekend Ladan and I flew to Denver, Colorado, and then drove north to Loveland to visit Duncan and Ellen. I've been out to see them twice before, and both times I've come back refreshed and energized, partly because of the peaceful aura their house exudes, and partly because of the beauty of the Rockies where we go to hike. This was the first time that Ladan was free to come too, so she joined me.
As usual, the three days I spent there were very relaxing. The schedule at their house is completely fluid. Sometimes we all just go off and do our own thing for a while; sometimes we all occupy ourselves while Duncan spends 45 minutes on the toilet; sometimes some, or all of us, just sit and stare into nothingness. Sometimes we talk about life. Duncan and Ellen both have had incredibly amazing experiences and have fascinating insights into the sort of deep issues that I think lots of people never even think about - or purposely avoid thinking about. When I leave their house, I inevitably have a few things to ponder and process for a while. Always, there's lots of face-muscle-paralyzing, chest-splitting, tear-inducing laughter. I always look forward to, and thoroughly enjoy, the feeling that nothing is rushing us in any way, and that anything goes. (Well, I could do without Duncan's incessant farting, but clearly his system is destroyed beyond repair and I should just accept it.)
One of the things Duncan and I were excited to do was skate together for the first time. We both bought boards at the same time a few months ago, he a longboard and me a regular board. Both of us initially skated regularly but then it tapered off as time went on. On Sunday, about an hour before Ladan and I were planning to leave, we hadn't had any skate time yet and so we headed out right after our very late breakfast.
It was a great feeling to walk out the front door, lay the board down, and start skating; on my own, I always drive to where I want to skate. That simple act took me back 15 years to when I skated daily, and planted a big smile on my face. We skated for about 15 minutes until reaching a school, and headed toward the tennis courts, with their enticingly smooth green surface. For about a half hour we skated around the courts, me showing Duncan my ollie problems, Duncan making a half-hearted attempt at his first ollie ever, then me trying out his longboard for the first time. He made the comment that I was thinking - "man it'd be cool if you lived here, we could skate all the time!" Both of us were having a blast.
And then our time was up and we headed home. Ladan came out and took some pictures of us, and got some great shots of me in midair. I then packed up my board, loaded the car, and we were off back to Denver to fly back home.
I don't have a large number of friends, but the ones I do have, I value highly. One of the toughest realities of growing up, i.e. of leaving college and joining the "real world", was that I ended up moving away from most of my friends. While I don't regret seeing and living in new areas, and know that I wouldn't want to stay in the same area my whole life, I really, really miss my friends, and man does it feel good to just hang out for a few days and relax.
[I've put up pictures of the trip here.]
As usual, the three days I spent there were very relaxing. The schedule at their house is completely fluid. Sometimes we all just go off and do our own thing for a while; sometimes we all occupy ourselves while Duncan spends 45 minutes on the toilet; sometimes some, or all of us, just sit and stare into nothingness. Sometimes we talk about life. Duncan and Ellen both have had incredibly amazing experiences and have fascinating insights into the sort of deep issues that I think lots of people never even think about - or purposely avoid thinking about. When I leave their house, I inevitably have a few things to ponder and process for a while. Always, there's lots of face-muscle-paralyzing, chest-splitting, tear-inducing laughter. I always look forward to, and thoroughly enjoy, the feeling that nothing is rushing us in any way, and that anything goes. (Well, I could do without Duncan's incessant farting, but clearly his system is destroyed beyond repair and I should just accept it.)
One of the things Duncan and I were excited to do was skate together for the first time. We both bought boards at the same time a few months ago, he a longboard and me a regular board. Both of us initially skated regularly but then it tapered off as time went on. On Sunday, about an hour before Ladan and I were planning to leave, we hadn't had any skate time yet and so we headed out right after our very late breakfast.
It was a great feeling to walk out the front door, lay the board down, and start skating; on my own, I always drive to where I want to skate. That simple act took me back 15 years to when I skated daily, and planted a big smile on my face. We skated for about 15 minutes until reaching a school, and headed toward the tennis courts, with their enticingly smooth green surface. For about a half hour we skated around the courts, me showing Duncan my ollie problems, Duncan making a half-hearted attempt at his first ollie ever, then me trying out his longboard for the first time. He made the comment that I was thinking - "man it'd be cool if you lived here, we could skate all the time!" Both of us were having a blast.
And then our time was up and we headed home. Ladan came out and took some pictures of us, and got some great shots of me in midair. I then packed up my board, loaded the car, and we were off back to Denver to fly back home.
I don't have a large number of friends, but the ones I do have, I value highly. One of the toughest realities of growing up, i.e. of leaving college and joining the "real world", was that I ended up moving away from most of my friends. While I don't regret seeing and living in new areas, and know that I wouldn't want to stay in the same area my whole life, I really, really miss my friends, and man does it feel good to just hang out for a few days and relax.
[I've put up pictures of the trip here.]
posted by GregP at 7:21 PM
1 Comments:
Exactly, that was one (of many) things that I loved about India too. Of course, I didn't have as much free time to do that sort thing since I was off at Carniv... er, never mind.
Post a Comment
<< Home