"On to the Next One"

     Since I last posted I have been quite busy with work and after-work activities.  The first week after my last post these activities included two days of pick-up basketball at the gym and two days of indoor soccer with guys from work.  That Saturday we actually did not go boarding because the Indiana Pacers were in town to play the Denver Nuggets and Cale had two lower-level tickets he had received from  his parents.  With both JD and I vying for that second ticket, we ended up flipping a coin to decide who would get it.  Though I lost this coin flip, we hashed out a deal in which JD would get the lower-level seat for the first and fourth quarters while I would get it for the second and third.  We then purchased a second ticket in the upper deck for which we would sit when not down in the "plush" seats with Cale.  Here's just a snippet of the difference in seat quality I'm talking about...

Though the Pacers lost (one of very few all season), we still had a great time seeing the blue and gold suit up

   
     Earlier in the day, I took advantage of another great day of weather by picking a random nearby hike and venturing out by myself to enjoy the day.  It was warm enough to wear shorts and a long-sleeve t-shirt in the foothills and more specifically Myer Ranch Park.  There I was able to fit in about a five mile hike while wandering aimlessly from one short trail to the next until I circled back to the parking lot.  The views weren't fantastic for Colorado; however, it was nice to be able to get any outdoors hike in during the middle of January.  Here are a few pictures from my mini-adventure (keep in mind I had no one to take my picture for me so I did what I could in some spots)...

     The following week I was scheduled to return to my Alma Mater in order to help recruit some interns out to Colorado.  It was great to return to the old stomping grounds and see a lot of my friends whom I hadn't seen in many months.  It was almost equally rewarding to be in the opposite position in the job search process as I had been for so many years.  After flying out on a Wednesday morning we (I was accompanied by two others) opened the search for candidates with an informal social that night, followed by a day of meeting students at the job fair on Thursday.  Friday was taken up by interviewing a select few candidates and concluding the day with me bidding farewell to my two colleagues who were headed back to Denver that night.  Afterwards, I was free to dispose of my weekend as I pleased before leaving on Sunday morning.
     I took advantage of this time to catch up and have a good time with many people I had left back at school last Spring.  One of the weirdest feelings was that, in leaving school I had left many people who had also graduated just like me.  These people moved to different cities across the country as well; however, it still felt like I should be seeing them back at school since that was where I last left them.  It's also very bittersweet because as great as it is to be back and meeting up with so many of your friends, it is also a reminder that those great times are fleeting and many other friends and acquaintances of the past you may never be able to spend time with again, especially not as a group.  Though I have had a good deal of experience with building friendships over the course of summers or school years only to have to say goodbye at the end of the day, it is still sometimes a tough pill to swallow.
     At the end of each one of these experiences though, you must move on.  For me, I believe I try to think of it as "on to the next one" in that as long as I keep progressing and having something great to look forward to or something new to experience, I can keep my head out of the past.  There is the possibility though that this may not be the best way to look at it: maybe I should give more credit to the past in my mind, maybe I should keep these friendships and past experiences closer to me, maybe I'm taking the easy way out by not looking back.  But if I did that, I would not be able to forge ahead and move to different places, experience new things, meet new people, and create great memories like those I have left behind.  It is for this reason that I believe I must continue on this path, wherever it takes me.


P.S. I know I mentioned in my last post that I would speak on "An Island to Oneself" in this post.  I will get to that eventually in an upcoming post, it just wasn't a topic in the forefront of my mind tonight.