Stop here if you haven’t read part one first.

After being dropped to the airport by a kind stranger-turned-friend and making friends on the airplane, I was brow-furrowed over how much $ it would take to get me from the airport to Lincoln Street.

I bought a Light Rail Ticket and took-in Denver by preview of outskirts. You know airports are never in the middle of things.

My relationship with Tucson is like a seesaw. Some seasons I love it, others I am miserably hot and dried out from the air and severity of the place. The cacti are so funky and fresh to look at, and so terrible to touch. Should the desert be the same? Look, don’t touch; visit, don’t live? Every silver lining has its cloud, I reason, though there are never clouds in Tucson. I am thoroughly nostalgic for a thunderstorm.

Anyway, questions I don’t have all the pieces to answer yet.

I grab my luggage and bajar el tren. I walk a distance in Union Station, excited at the beauty of the building (does Tucson have a train station?) debating whether or not to take the bus with all it’s stops, and eventually me duele el codo pero I just call a Lyft. I rarely, if ever, call taxis because it’s not the lifestyle I live, but I am on “semi-vacation” I reason. Ella picks me up. We chit-chat a little like drivers and passengers tend to do, and she tells me that her first marriage took her from Denver to less amenable climates like Wisconsin and North Dakota. I couldn’t imagine. She is on her second marriage now, the third woman I met today happily married to their second husband. That’s remarkable really, that I was able to know three women well enough to learn this about them while we’re just in-passing.

After a few minutes of quiet, she asked: “Do you like sushi?”
I replied “Yes!” and she fished a $25 gift card from her bag and handed it to me. “A few days ago some gals gave me three of these, and my husband and I have used two of them. Make sure to call ahead and go for Happy Hour- you can get more bang for your buck that way. It expires tomorrow, so make sure to go by today or tomorrow night.”
Then she added: “We went for our anniversary.”

You’d think I’d won the lottery. A $25 gift card to sushi?! Is God a Woman?
I was truly floored by her kindness and thanked her enthusiastically.

When I arrived to Amber’s apartment, I was so excited to finally see her place. We have very good friends since we met during a summer internship in 2014. As the years stack like pancakes, Amber has been like syrup through one pandemic, two European tours, a summer in Alaska, Peace Corps, grad school, a job I despised and my first year of teaching. I won’t count the break-ups, but there were a few.

Now I couldn’t believe I was standing in front of her, looking at her new life in Denver that she singlehandedly pursued, not letting a disability stand in her way. She is a super-hero, and I’m in-love with her seeing-eye dog Della, too. This is a special treat because we talk more on the phone than we can see each other in person. In fact, I am here to watch Della while Amber travels to visit friends. This leaves me time in Central Denver in a bomb-ass place all to walk through town, write, rest and enjoy mornings without teaching, with the company of Della until Amber gets back for my second week here.

Amber put a spread of vegan delights in front of us to eat. I scarfed chips and salsa and plant-based jalapeño cheese sticks and then my mouth watered when she served burrito bowls. Together we walked to Trader Joe’s to digest the cornucopia we took to the face. We always joke “and then I went to Trader Joe’s” would be be our sign-off line on our make-believe podcast (for which there is a title, but that’s not your business!) We love the store. It’s like vacation on vacation.

So, to conclude a challenging year with a stunning day of travel, I have to remember at my darkest moments, and there were several, that there will always be people to share meals, struggles and journeys with. Some might give you their number on a plane ride, or tell you about their family in Tanzania, give you a gift card to sushi, pick you up for an early-morning ride to the airport or feed you dinner after a long day of travel. AND let you watch their dog. And use their exercise equipment AND eat their food and… well, just be.

In the airplane, I felt calm. A feeling that has escaped me for many months, but landing in Denver I felt joy. I want to be intentionally joyful, and I am sure that will lead to more presence. I think I’ll be more centered in the moment and less concerned about the future. That’s my plan. I can do this!