Exit Stage Left

I've always felt sort of like I got "stuck" in Denver. Like it wasn't my choice to be here, like it was a last resort. It's not that I've ever disliked Denver--I was born here, afterall--it's just that I never thought I'd wind up here--back where I started. It's never really felt like "home" to me, because I've moved so much, but it's the closest thing I've got to it.

When I graduated from college I didn't know where to go or what to do. I didn't want to stay in California and since my family was here I decided to just come "home" while I figured it out. Who knew then that I'd be here as long as I have been?

Over the past six-ish years I've come to really love this city...indeed, this whole state. In the beginning I was self-conscious about living here and felt like I was constantly defending its "coolness" to people who had never visited. At some point in my defense of this city I realized that what I was saying came from the bottom of my heart. That I wasn't just making the case to others and trying to make myself feel better, but that I actually believed what I was saying. Of course, as I think everyone does, sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in a rut, that I'll never get out of here to try all the things I've dreamt about.

Today I was out running errands, driving Southbound on Kipling from Wheat Ridge. At right about 32nd Street I found myself at the crest of the hill looking out across the Western suburbs, directly at the Rockies. The mountains were purple against a perfectly blue sky, not a cloud in sight, with lush green trees dotting the landscape. And, suddenly, in that moment I saw what Katharine Lee Bates must've seen while sitting on Pikes Peak over 100 years ago: America, the Beautiful. And suddenly I was okay with "just" being in Colorado.