Why I'm Happy

One day I woke up and life in Colorado was suddenly abundantly happy. I don’t think I realized it immediately. It took a couple days for me to actually notice my lurking happiness. But, I noticed and here it is, still.

I love being with my family. Although the patio at my parents’ new house doesn’t compare to the patio at our old house, which was my most favorite place in the world, we’ve really enjoyed some beautiful Colorado summer nights on this one. Imagine…a fantastic Wine Woot wine, tofu stir fry, and two huge dogs eating each other’s poop, all while watching the sunset. Wish you were here, don’t cha? Seriously, though. I love it.

I love my siblings. Last night I let Anna, aka the China Babe, dye my hair. She totally got into it. My underage stylist made sure every root of every strand had been touched. Twice. What happens when you leave hair dye in for a really long time? It turns dark, really dark. Some might call it emo, I call it mysterious, dark and mysterious. This morning Chad let me cut his hair. He probably should have let Anna do it.

Time with the brothers has been great, too. We’ve been down to Eric and Amy’s a few times. You should see Denver right now. The DNC is totally nuts. We walked around and looked for famous people Sunday night. All we found was the entire SWAT team, including their moms, a guy selling “Ooooooooobama buttons” and MSNBC. Sorta anti-climactic. You know those protesters that hold up the signs that say, “This is what a police state looks like?” It’s true. Only, I don’t understand why they’re protest signs. I mean, it’s true, this is really probably what a police state looks like. Okay. I’m fine with that. If it brings Oprah, Kanye and Bradjalina to town, then sure, why not?

I love time with my cousins. I’ve gotten up to the mountains a couple times to stay at the Winters’ new house. I say it every time but I’m pretty convinced that just breathing mountain air has soul-healing properties. I still laugh when we walk around Keystone among the summer bikers, hippies and people with absolutely nothing to do. It’s about as far from DC as you can get. Sometimes I can’t believe I lived there. (Still love ya, DC.)

It was walking through Keystone about 5 weeks ago that our (me, brother and cousin) tattoo idea was officially born. And it was last Friday that we finally went under the needle. It was terrible. I had the shakes, the cold sweats, the jimmy legs. Remember that Offspring song with the lyrics that went “now he’s getting a tattoo, yeah, he’s getting ink done/he asked for a 13 but they drew a 31…” That was stuck in my head for an entire week before. It took all my willpower not to sing it in front of Fritz, our surprisingly nurturing artist. It actually took all my willpower not to sprint out the back door. Somehow I didn’t and found myself on the table with the sweet sounds of James Taylor in the background (what?), listening to Fritz talk about slasher films and Mexican food while suppressing the screams and squeals that needed so desperately to come out. “It’ll get easier,” Fritz said when he started, the others nodding in agreement. Bull. If anyone tells you “it just feels like a cat scratch,” hit them, they’ve just lied to your face. I might post a picture later, when I don’t have to put that goo on it that makes it all shiny and gross looking. For now, let this suffice:



Finally, I love my friends. It’s been so great to get to spend time with people who had so much to do with who I am. Margot remains one of my best friends, across the time and distance. Friends like that are such a gift.

So that’s about it. As always there’s more I can say but don’t want to bore you guys. Minnesota tomorrow. The party hat and little black bachlorette dress are packed and ready. I can’t wait to be in a room full of 80% of my favorite people on the planet (holla attcha New Zealand).

Yours-
LC