It's a first...and I don't like it very much.

2010 is the first year in my memory - in at least a decade and maybe my whole life - that I am not spending one week, one day, one hour or even one minute in the great state of Colorado. For those of you who have known me for longer than a brief moment or have read this blog for a while now, you know just how much I am in love and am obsessed with that glorious place that is home to the Rocky Mountains, Summit County, three of my favorite cities in the whole wide world and more life-long friends than any other single state.

I was blessed. For four years, I called it home. When I met people on airplanes and they asked, "where are you from," I quickly replied with "Denver" or "Boulder" proudly. I wasted no time in bragging about my state, a state that wasn't truly mine to claim...but I did it anyway. Natives to this place take great pride in their heritage and even have stickers reminding others that they were born there. Those of us who pretend we can call a bit of it our own are left with the "Transplant" reminders stuck on our cars and Nalgene bottles. We quickly fit in and wonder why we didn't get there sooner.

When I moved to Texas, one of my biggest fears is that I would lose Colorado. Colorado would drift into the ancient past like a distant memory and eventually would be something I experienced a long time ago in a different life. That didn't happen. As I wrote "Austin" on the return address part of an envelope, I still stayed closely connected to the mountains...and Amy, Julie, Anneke, Julia, Jessica, Carolyn, Becky and countless others. It was my home away from home away from home. In 2009 alone, I managed to spend at least seven weeks with those people and in those places. It was magical.

Then I moved to Atlanta. Atlanta is not a bad place. It's close to the Appalachian mountains. I've visited Greenville and Asheville, Nashville and Chattanooga, Kim and Dan, and Blair and JP. Elizabeth came through town, and my cousins vacationed here. It's been a good city. I've managed to get back to Austin many times for important reasons. I've been to DC more than usual to see family. I even was able to go to Chicago twice already, and it's not even Christmas yet.

Alas, I will not be making it to Colorado. 2010 will come to an end in just over a month. There are no tickets purchased with DEN as the destination. No emails and phone calls have been made to arrange places to sleep depending on how the snow falls. I will not be drinking Vic's coffee with Julie or walking at Wash Park with Carolyn. 2010 will conclude, and something will be missing.

2011 will have to make up for this kind of mistake. A ski trip should be planned immediately.