A Week in Colorado

When I lost my job, I immediately wanted to leave town. Fight or flight? Definitely flight. My natural inclination is to run away.

I'm not really sure what I'd be running away from, but I definitely felt some shame. Even though I didn't lose my job because of poor performance, I still feel like maybe I should have done something differently. Or better. Maybe I simply did a bad job at choosing my job.

I feel like I've done that a few times over the years. Bummer.

My first idea for leaving town was to do a bicycle trip. Chris didn't like the idea of me cycling and camping by myself. I guess he's probably right to be concerned. My second idea was to go see my best friend. She lives north of Denver so I decided to drive. Chris was OK with that.

On the way to Denver, I stopped in Durango and visited Mel. There's a bit of a back story there which I'll tell later. The important part is that Mel is awesome and the time in Durango was a great way to start my trip.

I spent the rest of my week away in Longmont, CO, which is about 30 minutes northeast of Boulder. I got to spend lots of time with Summer. We laughed, we cried. (Sometimes both at the same time.) We watched Thelma and Louise because we'd never seen it and heard it's a great movie for best friends. It sucked. Why did that movie get so much notoriety? It wasn't about friendship but about bad choices. Four thumbs down. The only redeeming moment of the movie was Brad Pitt's character humping the air.

"I am underwhelmed. And even Brad Pitt was too skinny."
- Summer

I played as much as I could with Violet and loved that I am "Aunt Erica" to her. She's growing up so much and so quickly. Violet will be two years old on December 1st. She's so sweet and gentle. I love how she'll say "cuddle" when she's sleepy and just wants to be loved on. It cracked me up that at first she was hesitant to jump on the air mattress I was sleeping on. Then she got more and more bold as she jumped. I loved the way she read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish right along with me.

Since I was so close to Boulder, I was able to visit Matt Gist. He and Monica took me to a delicious restaurant (Lucile's) for brunch. It was great to catch up with Matt and spend time in the lovely Boulder, Colorado.

Most of my time in Colorado was spent both relaxing and trying not to freak out about being unemployed. Summer was great and listened to me ramble about a billion and one work-related thoughts. She was very patient and encouraging. Plus, there was an absolute outpouring of love and support from my friends from all over. I received tons of email, comments, Twitter and Facebook messages with offers to help, leads, and virtual hugs. After only a couple days I was feeling back to normal and feeling optimistic about the future.

The biggest and most important thing I realized from this time away is that it's now time for me pursue my own business. I'll still need a full time job to support me and Chris, but I need to work on a side project. It's time to stretch my entrepreneurship muscles. Since I've been home, a number of other things have reinforced this.

It's time to start a business.

While in Longmont, I had the opportunity to explore the city on my bike. I rode around Summer's neighborhood then made my way to a local bike shop, Bike-N-Hike. I had a great conversation with the clerk who directed me to a greenbelt with multi-use paths that crossed the city.

The weather was perfect and I took a leisurely trip around town. Much of the path went along a creek where I saw a muskrat. I also saw prairie dogs, a snake, and a pagoda.

The time in Colorado was exactly what I needed to rest and think about the future. It was a long trip home as I drove straight through (6am to 9pm). It was a great drive. This part of the county is so, so beautiful.

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