June 8, 2016
12:27 p.m.

It's been a few days, and I should have posted sooner, but I would now like to say that the fundraising event that I posted about in my last "Thinks" post was heavily attended and appears to have been a roaring success. I have not since spoken to anyone involved, but if attendance was any indication, this little town is full of love for a local lady who certainly deserves it.

I saw many old friends at that function, some of whom I haven't seen in over twenty years. It's amazing, it's humbling. It makes me so happy that I still, after all this time, feel the same affection and respect when encountering these people. It's like a form of time travel, hugging a woman I've known since I was a little girl.

After all this time, it still feels like home.

Small towns are impressive in that way. The community is much more aware of the people who populate it. When I am here, I am more likely to encounter someone I know when I go out than I am when I go out in Denver. I shop, dine out and play fairly often at home, and never see a soul I recognize. Here, I've met old friends nearly everywhere I've gone. Especially the grocery store!

You see, my hometown, Green River, Wyoming, has only one grocery store. The odds of shopping and not meeting up with at least one person you know is relatively low. It has become my favorite place to visit this trip!

There are also few restaurants here, so those are other local meeting places. Of course, my parents are much more likely to encounter people they know when we go out than I am. I haven't actually lived here for twenty-five years!

Twenty-five years. It hardly seems possible. Wow.

In September, I will have been in Colorado for seventeen years, and that seems even less possible. My children are in their thirties, My oldest granddaughter will be a Senior in High School, and I am getting old, old, old!!

Time is a funny thing!

I moved to Denver in 1999. I live there, and have family and friends there, but it has never felt like a hometown. It's too big and is populated with too many strangers. It's just where I live. I'll return soon, go to my doctor appointments and take care of things that have to be taken care of, and then, hopefully, I'll make another visit home.

It's good to have a home to come back to from time to time, isn't it?

As this visit draws toward its end, I have to express my gratitude for the lives of my parents, siblings, and all our extended families. In spite of setbacks we have all experienced, we have been incredibly blessed. I pray that I never take that for granted.

Okay, my peeps, those are me thinks of the day!

Until we meet again--Cheers!