I’m sitting in Terminal C, Gate 48 of the Denver International Airport. There’s a hint of emotion as I type this – my swan song of a blog post as a Colorado resident. I woke up this morning to find my mercurial friend Meghann sleeping on one couch and the omnipresent QuasiJames on the other. As I woke them up to get ready for the morning of goodbyes, I felt that the imagery of those two being the first and last people I saw in Boulder somewhat fitting.
A lot has happened in the last two and a half years in Colorado. I’ve grown and matured. I’ve found a career I truly love (and I’m pretty good at it too). I made some amazing friends. A lot of these things may have happened in any other city in the country – I was in a ripening stage of maturity and locale was not the sole factor to success – yet, that can’t take away from the fact that it did happen here in Boulder, Colorado.
Boulder is an exceptional town full of exceptional people. From the fitness buffs to the tech scene, I have never felt people that continuously stimulated me to improve like I did in this front range city. The friendships that I’ve procured through the years are ones that will stick with me – even when the inevitable gravity of time pulls those relationships apart. The mentors I acquired, the peers that inspired – so much credit in my life is owed to Boulder that I can’t even begin to encapsulate the time here with words. I even will refrain from naming names because I don’t want to leave anyone out – because there was so many people whose friendships never blossomed completely yet still effected my development. So take this as a universal thank you to everyone who I engaged with in this mountain town. I’m taking a piece of you to New York. My success is, ultimately, your success. I will always remember that.
When I first arrived in Boulder, I emailed my mailing list and expressed myself as “speechless” – so it’s only fitting that I feel the same emotional tug as I leave this town. In that email, I talked about how before I ventured out west the palette of colors I used to describe my world was a Crayola 8 pack – and the green grasses of Kentucky, rolling hills of Kansas, and the imposing figure of the Rockies turned that 8 pack into a 64 and then 120 pack of crayons. I take that palette of colors back to New York with me – hoping that my experiences here will color new shades in the often gray shadows of those concrete canyons. I return east transformed by the west – at peace with many personal demons, at ease with the timbre of my life. I have never been more excited for the career opportunities before me and have very little fear to what lies ahead. I know, in the end, that it will work out – powered by my talent and the people out there that read this blog, that call me with words of encouragement, that wish kind thoughts my way. I will color my world and live outside the lines with the reckless abandon of an imaginative child – thinking about only that which is possible; not the things that are not.
This is all because of Boulder. This is all because of you. Thank all of you for reading my blog. I hope you stay along for the ride.
