Colorado Trip

We journeyed back to Colorado to visit family and friends, celebrate birthdays and tackle the clean-out of the last storage unit. 

The mountains are always a pleasure to see in Colorado.  Pikes Peak overlooks my childhood home so it was a nostalgic trip to Colorado Springs.  We arranged a tour of the Air Force Academy for my grandson who is  researching colleges with one of my high school friends that graduated from there over 50 years ago. 

Back in Arvada we celebrated birthdays for the youngest grandson, youngest daughter and our sister-in-law. Bowling was a big hit for the grandson who turned 8. After two hours of bowling, Rick and I were wiped out. 

The altitude and cold also affected us. It was a typical Spring in the Rockies.  It would be rainy and cold and 40 degrees and the next day it would be 80 and sunny. We wore a lot of sweatshirts and sweaters. We are not cold weather people anymore.

We were able to cut the size of our storage unit from a 5x10 to a 5x5. It was not without anxiety and much crying. We just wanted the things we loved to go to someone who would appreciate them as we had. I sold a silverware set that belonged to my mother to a nice lady who was collecting the "First Love" pattern to use for her large family.  I told her I just wanted her to appreciate the set that my mother had collected by saving cereal box tops.  She asked my mothers name and I told her it was "Ann".  She said she would remember Ann every time they used the silverware. As I stood in the parking lot of our storage unit selling keepsakes out of the back of our rental car like a drug dealer, I cried. 

Rick inherited an old Edison phonograph with 100 cylinders that played music by winding it up.  His grandfather collected these and was world known for his collection.  We found a buyer that had remembered his mother playing a phonograph just like the one Rick had kept safe for years. This made us feel a little better and we shed less tears as this item was taken away.

I had been crying over the very mention of my mother's china for months leading up to our trip back Colorado. The next generation is not into china and have no use for nostalgic things. Selling china is really not possible. I couldn't bare to give it away.   So the China and mocha set sit in storage until next time.

Coming home to Bonaire is always exciting for us.  We have lived here for 4+ years.  It is our home.