On Leaving Boulder

My most recent post was last May -- a world has come and gone -- indeed several of my worlds have come and gone in that interval. Old beefs. New epiphanies. Life.

And all of a sudden we're moving back to Washington DC, this Tuesday in fact, so what do I think about Boulder and moving away from?

2 1/2 years of trying to finesse the unbridgeable, really. After so many years abroad, to return to the States to a place like Boulder and during a presidential election campaign was pure madness. We don't always get to choose our life ponds. But do we really have to be thrown into the ponds we need?

Boulder's issues can be summed up in one (long) sentence: Folks in the "happiest" place in the USA take pleasure in making themselves miserable and others even more so by pointing fingers/moralizing/sermonizing/locking up/editorializing against anyone different from them all on the side of "diversity." Lockstep. Bitter fruits of the Baby-Boomer generation.

That said, I will miss a lot about Boulder:
*Going about my daily business with the mountains as
backdrop, amaaazing to be surrounded in such elegance even when walking across the Jersey Pike aka Route 36, or dropping stuff off at the dry cleaners.
*Jogging around the rec park with the dawning sun setting the mountains aglow and the hot air balloons soaring against their profile.
*Loving all my FABulous friends.
*Shopping at Anthropologie/Safeway/Sephora/Target/BBB when they still mailed out coupons, Two Sole Sisters for beautiful company and astonishing shoes, Gypsy Jewel for wonderful everything and Tibetan Prayer Flags.
*Eating at the Kitchen, once upon a time at the Leaf.
*Having a Rolfer, Naturopath, Masseur, Rebecca's Apothecary.
*Starting a BLOG or two.
*Embarking upon the agony and the ecstasy of photography.
*Growing my hair longer and going BLONDE with Lindsey at Colours.
*Enjoying Total Body Pampering at Aisha's Aesthetics.
*Going crazy at the Bookworm.
*Admiring authors at their evenings at the Boulder Bookstore.
*Ummm ... dodging bicycles anywhere/everywhere.
*Choosing among gorgeous gorgeous fabrics at Elfriede's.
*Reading the Daily Camera and the Denver Post.
*Oooh have you been to the Kirkland Museum in Denver?
*Missing every darn show at the BMOC.
*Appreciating the public landscaping along the avenues/boulevards/streets.
*Kissing the zebra-walk stripes that don't get washed away in the rain.
*Turning the clock back by shopping at the CU Campus Bookstore.
*Taking lessons at the Apple Store to learn my new mac.
*Riding the public buses and meeting the true diverse Boulder public.
*Going up to Ned for art with Catherine and massage with Ian.
*Putting my Subaru "Thor" into the tender loving care of Import Specialists.
*Not yet drinking Bhakti Chai.
*Trying to love herbal tea.
*Discovering netflix.
*Being sucked into Fox News.
*Mailing at the best post offices ever.

A lot to miss. A lot to take with me. I've realized that although I'll miss McGuckin's Hardware I'll love Strosnider's in Bethesda. How shall I replace Mikes Camera for photo prints? At RitzCamera right up Wisconsin Ave. Yum to Vace's Pizza. Drycleaning around the corner. Washington's best nursery just a block away.

And so it goes.
Culture Shock, Culture Embrace, Culture Exchange, Culture Loss.

Reality Life.