Wrapping up Colorado

Katie D.

December 28, 2011 - 9:34 PM

It has been a wonderful time here in Colorado this winter break. As always, it's been a whirlwind of friends and family and the mandatory downtime that comes after a busy academic term. And, as usual, I am finding myself exhausted here at the end of the visit. But it's been a good time at home, and it might be a long time before I spend this much time in Colorado for a while.

These past two days have been particularly momentous. I spent today on a marathon of meetings with important folks: breakfast with my grandmother, lunch with my aunt, coffee with my cousin, and dinner with my mom and my favorite teacher. Plus I had to say my goodbyes this evening, since I'm leaving early tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I saw my oldest friend, Lauren, before meeting up with a family friend for lunch and then a church/business meeting to discuss a curriculum for United Methodist youth to study immigration. Then I had a snack with my mom, then dinner with my dad and a late-night movie with my friend Melanie.

A marathon indeed.

One of the great excitements of this break came in bringing together Melanie, my best friend from high school, to meet Lauren, my oldest friend. Our futures are all pointing in one direction for a short-term adventure, and that future is Prague. Melanie will be studying there starting in February. Lauren has done previous archeology research there, and will be returning this summer for analysis of 300 medieval skeletons from the Czech Republic. And I will take the cosmic hint, and plan to launch my next year's European adventures with a few weeks living with Lauren in Prague. What could possibly be better?

What came to mind again and again over these past couple of days is that I am surrounded by brilliant, creative, inspiring people. Melanie is three years younger than me, and is traveling alone for the first time for a creative writing a social change program in Prague. Talk about an adventurer. Lauren is fully launched in her PhD program, and will hopefully be a travel companion very soon. In addition to these friends my own age, I spent a magical few hours this morning with my grandmother, who has always been a huge influence in my life. She is 92 and still a strong, independent woman with astounding curiosity and compassion. Talking with my aunt and cousin, I was reminded again of the power of family, and the incredible ways in which we all fit together, and in which our lives take such different directions.

I've left behind much of Colorado. Oregon is my home now, and a place where I feel most welcome and comfortable. But these roots remind me of an identity arising from old ties and slow changes.

As I imagine leaving Oregon for my year as a Mitchell Scholar abroad, I am facing another departure from home. It helps to know that the year will include parallel adventures in Prague. And it also helps to revisit this model of a leave-taking: that your family will always welcome you back, and that a hometown is a measure for change and continuity. Dashing between these people who love me in the last couple of days has reminded me of my place in the world: in the midst of my community, taking care of one another.