This weekend, Wade and I (aka Team Stumblebum) completed the Urban Assault Ride here in Denver, a 25-ish mile bike race that is really a scavenger hunt for locations to complete obstacles that are really just an excuse to be silly all day long http://www.urbanassaultride.com/. We volunteered all day the day before by helping with registration packet pickup so that we could do the race for free (score!!!). The day of the race was super fun as we scampered from place to place facing silly challenges like a downhill slip and slide, mini-trike race, and finding three different cans of beer in a pool full of beer cans. The ride itself was no joke -- we accidentally chose the almost-entirely-uphill route -- but was still pretty mellow.
I'm winding up my last week here and, let me tell you, I am not ready for it to end. I'm excited to be coming back home to friends and family and my bed and shoe variety, but there are so many reasons why I don't want to leave:
1. The weather. It is perfect, even though it is very hot and a little humid lately. The sun blasts down every day until the afternoon showers roll in (and force me back inside to get work done). The evenings are warm, but often with a nice cool breeze.
2. The flowers. Wildflowers are everywhere here, usually in overgrown patches along the sidewalks or on the sloping lawns in front of houses. Those patches are full of lilies, columbines, snapdragons, roses, daisies, hollyhocks and more.
3. The bike rides. The weather is always perfect for a bike ride. The slopes are hardly ever too steep and if they are too steep, they are brief. The view is always nice and overall the drivers are nice too.
4. The hottie. Without really trying, I began dating someone here. He's super sweet and smart and gorgeous. I will miss him.
5. The mangoes. At first, they were 10 for $10. Now they're 2 for $1. At those prices, I could nap in a tub full of mango meat. But instead, I've been eating them. Lots of them. With delicious yogurt. Mmmm.
6. The best buddy. I realized something big this summer and here it is: There is no one on this earth with whom I feel more comfortable with than my best buddy, Wade. He has been my bestie for 20 years and knows more about me than anyone ever has or probably ever will. He's a great long-distance friend and always has been --we always stay in close touch, no matter which time zone or country we're living in, even in the long-lost era when long distance phone calls and letters stuffed full of pictures were the only way to keep updated. But, logistically, it's been years since we've been so close for so long. I could write forever about how great it has been to be around for the day-to-day. I'm so happy that I could make his trip happen, especially because we are in a time of our lives when both us us really needed this kind of friend-therapy. It has been truly perfect, every day.
So, instead of giving into this feeling of sadness that it is ending, I am just going to focus on how grateful I am that this time was possible. Sighhhhhh.
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