Late Preface
[I wrote this on Christmas day last year and it has been sitting in my drafts for three full months, just waiting to be finished. I didn't find the time, because I was too busy trying to hang out with the people I was previously trying to write about. Clearly, you're all awesome.]
The Actual Post
This is a post about you. But I’m going to start out talkin about me, because that’s a rut I haven’t yet gotten out of in my life or my blogging. If it helps at all, though, you should know I’m working on it. It’s just the lens through which I see the world.
Growing up, I had few friends. This was due to various reasons in the various phases of my life. Through adolescence and into adulthood, though, it was a lack of confidence, plain and simple. And as I moved from place to place in my twenties, I found friends wherever I went, but they were few and (literally) far between. Moreso in Miami than anywhere before, but it was there that I really began to gain the confidence I was seeking. I was also there like 3 years longer than anywhere else I lived, which surely helped.
Miami
It was in Miami that I met my wife. And I made some brilliant friends. Tim and Charlie were each excellent mentors in their own right. Javier and Veda are wonderful, lively people and I miss them dearly. Jamie and I became pretty close despite some things she was going through, and now that she’s through them, we’re even closer, distance be damned. Eric is a great guy and inspired me in ways he doesn’t know. Alicia utterly stunned us by actually coming to our wedding (stunning because it was in Costa Rica) and was just a wonderful friend besides. Judith is a marvel of kindness and hospitality. I love every single one of you, whether you got mentioned or not.
The Front Range
Colorado, though, has been a different beast entirely. People here have been unbelievably warm to us, and we are unbelievably grateful to you for your warmth.