[Today: no running today]
I’m sitting in a room in the Travelodge in Loveland, CO this morning. After awhile I plan to go visit Derby Hill Baptist Church for their morning service.
I’ve stayed at this hotel the last few times I’ve been in Colorado. Our daughter’s-fiance’s-brother is the manager and we get a “family rate” that is very attractive. I thought that connection was a bit tenuous for a discount, but the people involved don’t seem to think so and I’m happy to save money. Also, it is the off-season so it is probably a win for the hotel.
I was last in Colorado in August, for a doctor appointment and to check in at work and to visit with the daughter. It’s the same situation this time: a follow-up test, work and family. Nothing special about the doctor thing, I suspect they will do the test and say everything is normal. Like many people I have this romantic idea that maybe they’ll say I’m dying of consumption or something and I can languish and whatnot. But as fat as I am it would take years for me to die of consumption. They tell me our company-provided insurance is going to change starting in 2017 so that I can go to an at-home doctor and it will be “in network”. One less reason to travel to Colorado I guess.
The clouds are low and we are getting some light snow right now.
After the church service, I want to find a place that can trim my hair. And then maybe I’ll drive up Poudre Canyon a little bit to get my fix of the mountains. I miss the mountains. The Big Thompson Canyon is closed the whole winter while they re-work US-36 so no trip to Estes Park this time.
Our daughter’s fiance is having a birthday in a few days. He will be the same age I was when we moved to Colorado in 1996. That was a long time ago, and a lot of struggle and unknown troubles were lying in wait for me back then. I don’t see how anything could be as difficult as some of those days. I think I hit the max. Maybe I’ll hit the max again in the future, but I think I’ve seen it. In ’96 we had a bit of a foreshadowing of a medical problem, and decided that a change of scene might do us some good. We had recently had a beautiful vacation in the rockies, so we found a job and moved. We successfully dodged the problem for about two years, then it came back even bigger. And we really got pasted for about 5 years, with another 5 years of related aftershocks (in some ways equally distressing), which didn’t really end until we moved away from Colorado. So my Colorado experience is a mixture of beauty and suffering. I miss the beauty part and my mind overlooks the suffering most of the time.
The clouds are clearing a bit and I can almost see the mountains.
My wife says I get too wistful after these Colorado trips and I sympathize with her position. I probably should do some other traveling, find some place I enjoy as much but that doesn’t have the same connotations.
My last post was about her finishing her first 50 mile race, yesterday. And that is just a miracle. She’s got a whole lot of “virtual” friends on facebook and twitter and such, hundreds of them. She has the gift of encouragement and uses the internet to encourage people in their running. And that is a miracle too. The whole situation now is about as far from our Colorado days as it could possibly be. But that is her story and I try not to get into it very much on my blog since it is not my story to tell.