Once a Californian, Always a Californian

Today I just barely made it to my flight to Denver. I'm never late to the airport, let alone at risk of missing my flight. It was the cherry on top of the sundae after going through the day without food, sitting in a hot car and developing a slight sunburn on my right arm. It was not a good start to the day.

This evening was a wonderful end to the day though. Completely worth having a crappy morning and equally crappy flight for the wonderful night I had. I've arrived safely at Boulder, Colorado and am in love with where I'm staying. The house parents here are amazing and give so much of themselves to The Organization. I wish everyone worked to this extent. Their dogs Delta and Baxter have, like Jimmy Buffet a few posts down, become my new best friends.

We enjoyed a great Italian dinner down on Pearl Street, with equal amounts good food, good conversation and great people watching. Come to find out, the "House Dad" is, like myself, a native of Southern California, Pasadena specifically. We were able to connect immediately. We both love and hate the freeways and their respective bumper to bumper traffic. We related to one anothers love for In and Out, in addition to the warm Christmas season that is so unique to Southern California. We both admitted to enjoying earthquakes and smog much more, than anticipating hurricanes and snow storms.

With today being as crappy as it was, (and yes, it totally could've been crappier, I;m hearing a "woobus" from someone) I was so incredibly comforted by the fact that I had come all this way and was now having a wonderful conversation with a fellow SoCal lover in Boulder, Colorado. Despite the fact that we had both had extended stints in states outside of our native land, we both agreed that we were Californians at heart. Always and forever. At some time, I'm pretty sure I'd like to live in Boston, maybe New York City, definitely North Carolina again, perhaps even overseas again too. But really, let's be honest- Virginia may be for lovers, but California is forever.