In The Mountains With A Friend

I'm in Denver the next couple days visiting one of my oldest friends Beanpole. He's lived here since shortly after college and this'll be my fourth visit. He's a teacher so his summer's are free but that time is typically pretty precious, doubly so now that he has a little boy. So I took a little time off, easy for me, and came to visit. Plan to make visits more frequent moving forward because we've known each other for close to twenty years at this point, there's not a whole lot of people I know better or have a more extensive history with. And now that he has a son I want to be a part of that kid's life, even if the most I can manage is every other year, that consistency adds up.

We went for a long hike today, something I always want to do when I visit because of all the wonderful options in the Denver area. Beanpole and I worked at a summer camp together for a number of years and even when we were just hanging out we'd typically trek around the various parks in Rockford so the activity has a bit more resonance for us above and beyond the obvious pleasantness.

We walked and talked and enjoyed the day. It's been a great visit so far, been able to spend some QT
with Beanpole's wife Jen and son Matthew and get a sense of his life here. Feels good to be here and be a part of it for a little bit. Much better than going through a catch-up check list on the phone.