Hello. Goodbye.

Colorado…all of it---Up until now, this road trip has felt paced. Visit someone or somewhere, write a story, move on. But Colorado found me with seven homes I wanted to visit and 11 days to do it.

I went from Fort Collins to Boulder to Manitou Springs to Rocky Ford back to Manitou Springs to Monument to several people in Denver and still squeezed in a trip to Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. More than the feeling of exhaustion is the feeling of renewing friendships and then having to leave.

The overwhelming feeling I have experienced as I have looked up people who once played a role in my life, was the quick reconnection and remembering instantly why I loved them, or getting to know someone better than I had in the past and then leaving them only to miss them more. It started from the very first stop in Destin, Florida and has been a predominate feeling.

Hello! Goodbye.

But as I have experienced this once in a lifetime sort of trip looking up old friends, seeing them, hearing them talk of life’s struggles and triumphs it has left me clearly remembering who I am. And wasn’t that the initial purpose of this trip? I forgot the depth that old friends bring to a sense of being. A grounding. But I have gotten so much more. Seeing where these people are in their lives, the mark they have made by families, by careers, by ideas and opinions that have molded them into incredible people---except for the two duds along the way, incredible, wonderful American people.

I know I’m not alone. That if everyone could pick out 50 people they could look up and reconnect with it would be very similar. The only difference is I’m 7,500 miles into actually doing it and it’s amazing.

And as far as saying goodbye, it’s a part of the cycle of life. It sucks. But then there is always tomorrow and the fun anticipation of seeing the next person.

Hello.