In checking the calendar today, something came over me. Wasn't fear, sadness, but complete and utter 'WTF'-ness. Why? Well, 12 years ago I crossed the state line with my Uncle Fran and Pops from Kansas into Colorado. And since then, boy oh boy have some things changed while others have remained relatively the same. I left my Gram's house, then left Uncle Fran's house, with my Ma crying in the background, hopped in a new Ford Explorer trailing a boat. What do I remember most about the trip?
A few things, actually. We went up to Binghamton, NY to visit Uncle Fran's relatives. I won't go into more detail on that, as my memory is kind of fuzzy on that one. We visited Uncle Uck, or Chuck to others, in some podunk town in Pennsylvania. He's now running a diner, I know that much. It was kind of cool, in that patriotic small town kind of way. Everyone had flags on their front porch, 9/11 was eons away and far from anyone's thoughts. The biggest news story happened right before I left, Mike Tyson biting off Holyfield's ear and the rest of us wondering how low he could go. Well, here it is 12 years later and I'd say that after seeing Iron Mike's performance in 'The Hangover' his rep is on the rise. I remember the funniest guys on the radio were from Indianapolis-they were doing a bit on 'Tyson's chicken ears' that made us laugh. Could've been the exhaustion of the road, but it was hilarious, all 3 of us had tears running down our face. I remember Kansas never ending, and every 5 miles there was an ad for a fireworks stand, and being able to see that ad from the last one because Kansas is so stinking flat. We also couldn't go past 60 MPH or else the boat we were trailing would sway. That boat, for the record, was never used while Uncle Fran lived in Colorado for 8 years, but it held most of my crappy clothes, so it was great for storage. Never discount the value of a 'family' road-trip.
I don't regret for one second the day I decided I wanted out of New England. It was such an easy choice back then, as the only job offers I was getting were to go into restaurant management (at a Fridays-ick) or to take a crappy accountant job making $20K. Well, considering I had cleared that and then some the previous year waiting tables and slinging drinks, I thought I could do better. And I got an offer to come out to Denver, and I took it. I had benefits from Day One, and the chance for OT and my foot in the door of an exciting, new-ish, IT company. All of my friends said I wouldn't leave. 6 weeks after walking down the aisle to get my diploma (I know, I didn't really graduate until November, but I got to walk), I was gone, off to the Rocky Mountains. Yes, once I got to the Kansas/Colorado border I didn't see any mountains, so I said the line so many of us have said, quoting Jeff Daniels in Dumb & Dumber, 'That Jon Denver is full of shit'. Huge laugh then, bigger chuckle now.
I had a letter in my hand that stated how much I was going to make. Based off of that, I got a crappy apartment and a car. Pops and I almost came to blows in the middle of a street because he was yelling at me how to drive a stick. Funny thing, being his son, I quickly could yell just as fast and as loud, and our relationship was well on its way to being something far better than I thought it would ever be.
My first drive into my new job was hilarious, as I was frantically trying to find a traffic report, since being from the Boston area I knew all about "Traffic on the 3's". And if you don't know about that, I'd be willing to bet a large sum of money that the same traffic report is done on the 3's at AM 1030 WBZ. Well, I found the traffic report, and was apparently in the middle of a traffic jam doing 65. I walked into my initial training class way too young, much younger than everyone except my trainer, who was like 10 years older than me, and the other people had no clue what to make of me. Where am I from? Boston-it's just easier to say that than Nashua, NH, especially when my last known address was in Saugus, MA-living with Gram. And I was still laughing about the traffic, thinking out loud that if that was these fine folks idea of traffic, I was about to love it here. And for the most part, I think I have.
So after 12 years, what do I have to say? Plenty. First, what the hell happened to my hair? Second, my pallette for eating has changed dramatically. And lastly, I have made friends with some people that will stay forever. My parents were kind enough to suggest that I write a few notes down as they came to me for the first few months I was here, and I obliged them. It wasn't even for them to read. They asked me to do it for myself, so that I could go back in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years to see where I've come as a man. Boy, were they ever right. Funny how much smarter they got the OLDER I got. Weird, I know.
I wrote down 3 things I wanted to do while I was out here, for however long. Now, this may read as corny as hell to the rest of you, but remember, I was 21 and moving across the country, my vision to anything outside of New England was NYC, West Germany and San Francisco-and we're talking a grand total of a month in 21 years being outside of my surroundings. Those 3 things were:
1. Do Stand-Up Comedy
2. Fall in love
3. Learn how to play bass guitar.
Okay, so that last one probably isn't going to happen. I doubt I'll ever be in a band, unless it's a drunken 'Rock Band' kinda night. The second thing was, to elaborate, more to the point-allow myself to not be such an ass and think of someone way more than I thougth of myself. Yup, come to find out that was a mistake. Now that I'm looking back at what my definition of love was, if I were to get in a time machine-I'd slap me silly. I'd figured it out this morning when I looked at the calendar that maybe I'd fallen for someone twice. Wrong! Only happened once, that first one was more of being in love with the idea of love. Lesson learned there.
As for the first one, I've done stand-up. And I'll do it again. And I like it. I'm witty enough to do some decent stuff if I so choose to go down that path. Besides, 2 out of 3 ain't all that bad considering.
So that's briefly looking back 12 years. Friends, real friends-that I've made here in Colorado? Easy-John, Rob, Craig, Bret, Frank, Dom, Anthony, Joe, Dan, Jason, Lance, Michelle, David, Denece, Jen, Matt, Gina, Mike and Andrew, off the top of my head. If I forgot anyone, my bad, this is just off the top of my head. My 3 best friends from back in the day and back home, Kenny, Brian and Jay, well Kenny lives in Toronto, and I got to MC his wedding (awesome!), Brian kinda followed me here and I'll be in his wedding in a couple of months, and Jay is still in back east, and I was already in his wedding and his son is my Godson. All in all, I'm pretty happy about the last 12 years. I've definitely thought about leaving this great state, but to say I'm conflicted would be an understatement.
I'm looking forward to the next 12 MONTHS, just to see how some things play out. Remember, laugh out loud, sing louder and leave it all out there. My Pops advice at a young age were, 'do you really want to ask yourself what if?'. Well, here's a thought-what if I never came out here? I'd never have met the great people listed above, I would never have tried Stand-up, I'd have no idea what green chile is (the horror!!), I'd never know that the Cricket makes a mean burger, the chance of my friend Brian meeting his fiance are about nil, I'd be over 300 lbs with a wife probably just as huge, not knowing all that I know now, and there's a damn good chance I'd be a bouncer on Friday and Saturday nights or worse managing at that same crappy Fridays I last worked at before I moved out here.
I can't thank you enough for reading this far, and for being a part of my goofy existence. I fully expect to laugh more in the next 12 years than I did in the previous, mostly at myself.
Godspeed and God Bless all of you, and have a safe night out there tonight!
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