"Beth, I have to ask you..."

"...what piqued your interest about pickles so much that you drove 3 hours to take this pickling class?!"

I'll get to that question AND answer here in a hot minute.  But first I am happy to report that we had successful and safe travels and have been back in Colorado for a week now!  Well, Colorado/Wyoming/ColoradoWyoming but you know what I mean. It has been a really beautiful whirlwind of emotions seeing all these people we've been missing for months.  

When I saw on the calendar that Hunter's last day was just a few days before Jaime's 30th birthday, I just knew that we would be back for her celebrations.  Even before I knew what those celebrations were, before I had talked to her husband or sister about plans...I simply knew we would be in attendance.  Sure enough, Ryan had been scheming a surprise party for Jaime that we were able to crash!  We were faced with the decision of simply going to her birthday party, or SURPRISING HER AT HER SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY.  Even though it forced me to fib once or twice { or five+ times } on the weeks and days leading up to the party, it was absolutely worth it when Hunter and I walked out { of the bathroom - hello hilarious } to surprise the birthday girl.  She just stared at us completely speechless with her eyes very quickly filling up with tears.  It was such a fun moment!

Knowing that in the months you've been gone, you've changed in so many big and little ways and knowing your nearest and dearest have done the same was pretty intimidating to me.  Admittedly, I spent far too much time thinking/obsessing over this little detail and formed so many { too many } different situations in my mind.  I should have spent more time going over all the big and little things I love about the people I was about to see and reminding myself how resilient and beautiful friendship is.  Note to self for next time.  ;)

As I was walking into the wine bar where Jaime's party was held { we were having sliiiight car issues so Hunter worked out the problems while I made sure to get to the wine bar before the surprise } I saw Jaime's husband's brother and his wife walking into the restaurant just a few steps ahead of me.  Something about that moment calmed all of my ohmygoshi'mgoingtoseeallmyfriendsihaven'tseenin7monthswhatiftheydon'tlikemeanymore because seeing Luke and Krista walk in reminded me that these are my people.  It reminded me that behind those doors were a very large man's handful of people that I have hundreds if not thousands of memories with.  People that I love and who I know love me.  And sure enough, it was a beautiful evening.  It was so fun seeing all the people who came together to celebrate Jaime.  I loved seeing all our old friends, and meeting new { Hi, Sara!!! : } and picking up at the exact moment that we had left off.

After 7 months of pure longing to see your nearest and dearest, if you have even a seconds worth of opportunity to see those you haven't seen in anywhere from 2 weeks, to 7 months, to 12 months you just say yes.  You say yes to the plans and figure out the details later.  Even if those details require 13 hour driving days, setting the alarm for 5:30am several mornings in a row, driving 45mph alone through a twisty turny icy cannon while watching someone get pulled from the steep cliff and gripping your steering wheel as tightly as you possibly can.  We've been bouncing around quite a bit since getting back.  Denver, then Laramie the very next morning { Those Godkids of ours you guys.  Those cuddly, smiley and beautiful kids?  They own our hearts through and through. }, Steamboat the day after that then a quick drive through Ft Collins before landing in Denver for a few days.  On Tuesday, Hunter headed up to Snowy to get to work, and I drove from Steamboat to Ft Collins for a few hours, then to Denver.  My very sweet and dear friend Lesli, along with her husband Dustin opened up a beautiful spice and oil/vinegar shop, Crescendo!  They are constantly posting cooking classes that they offer on their Facebook page, and it was so painful to be in WA and watch all these fun classes come and go while being so far away.  When I saw they had a class October 15th, it was another moment of "I know I'm going.  I don't quite know how or where we'll be....but I'm going to this sumbitchin' pickling class come hell or high water!"  And sure enough, I made it { after that clenched steering wheel, icy twisty turny drive I referred to } and it was beyond enjoyable!  I worked with Lesli at my last job.  We both got out of corporate hell { no offense corporate job people reading this! } and really enjoyed sharing a few hugs, laughs and venting about how different that life was compared to what we are living right now.  She cracked me up when she looked at me mid class and says "Beth, I have to ask you.  What piqued your interest about pickles so much that you drove for 3 hours to take a pickling class?!"  I was a little embarrassed and gave her an answer of loving to cook, wanting to live a more self sustainable life blah blah.  Though that answer was part of the truth, the whole truth is what I spoke about above.  After missing these people, and these memories for so many months that when you have that opportunity to make a memory, you jump on it.  I am so proud of the leap Lesli and Dustin took and want to support them in any and every capacity I can!

So all in all, it's been really great being back.  It's been filled with little quirks like listening to the news and actually knowing the areas of the state and interstates they are talking about.  Laughing over 4+ old inside jokes brought up by old friends that you had completely forgotten about.  Pulling out your ID and not hearing "Oh gosh, ok Colorado, ColoradoColoradooooo.  Where is your DOB, whereeeisssyourrrrDOBBBB OH OK THERE IT IS." meanwhile all the ice has melted in your adult beverage and you are kind of wanting to throw it in the sweet WA bartender's face for not being quick on the uptake of finding a CO birthdate.  It's been fun remembering how one simple street in Denver can hold endless memories.  It's been challenging struggling to  navigate through a city you once knew like the back of your hand, but it's fulfilling when you instincts take you down the streets to the very place you are looking to get to.  It's a daily goal of mine to keep Bremerton as alive and close to the surface as I can.  I want it to remain a part of me and not let it fade into a distant memory.  

Cheers, friends!  And TGIF!!