Where you've been.

My ten year reunion is coming up this summer. Alyssa and I are planning a trip over to Grand Junction so I can show her my "old stompin' grounds" in conjunction with the festivities. I thought for sure that I would never attend one of these things and I guess I'm going to prove myself wrong.

I haven't kept in touch with many people from a decade ago - joining the Army and being away from Colorado for 5 years might have something to do with it. Growing up, getting involved with all kinds of activities, and becoming an adult may be more to blame. As cliche as it sounds, life used to be so easy. So many people complain that high school was so tough, that they struggled with their identity, that their parents didn't understand them, and that they wish they could go back and do things over again. I don't think high school was tough enough, I already had my own identity on lockdown, my parent(s) had their own stuff to deal with and left me to handle my own business, and I don't wish for a second that I could go back and change anything. Tell me that's normal.....

I'm excited to head back down memory lane....and Main street, and White Avenue, and Budlong Street, North Avenue, and Redlands Pkwy. Of all the places I've lived, Grand Junction is the one I have the most memories of and most connections to, even though very few people I still talk to live there. I had a lot of roots put down there - and right before I left, they were all pulled up and moved away. It's taken many years to finally settle down and feel like a place is home. I have that now in Colorado Springs and my restlessness has been put down. My brother and I took a trip to GJ last year for a little over a day. We had fun revisiting childhood landmarks - Lincoln Park, Hastings, Mesa State, Pufferbelly, Orchard Mesa, and of course, Mesa Mall. I'm anxious to walk Alyssa through all of those memories and give her a tour of the place I grew up.

http://www.gjtigers.com/2000/ ---click on Annual, then on Dow. Have yourself a little laugh :)