Laramie

We had a wonderful day and a half in Laramie.  I love the town and the area and especially the special people who live there.  My friends and the UU Fellowship there supported me through one of the toughest periods of my life and went on to encourage and support me as I shed the carapace I had felt obligated to wear because of expectations.  They provided a safe place for the real me — the Kate me — to emerge.  Laramie is a special place to me.

But it was cold.  Both mornings we woke to temperatures in the mid-twenties under a solid cloud cover, and it never did get more than a degree or two above freezing.  We had brought warm clothes, but it was still cold.

Monday night we drove 25 miles out onto the Laramie Plains for supper with a couple of wonderful friends, complete with lots of talk — catching up and expressions of love.  Tuesday we met another friend for coffee, two friends for lunch, and another two for supper.  We managed to squeeze in a visit to yet another friend who is in assisted living.  He’s 91 and still his wonderful self.  It was a full day of talk and laughter and a few tears of love.

Today, driving north toward Bosler, with open prairie on both sides and low mountains in the distance, we both felt very much at peace.  There is something about those high open spaces that soothe me.  We followed the road through Sybille Canyon to Wheatland. 

Then south to Cheyenne in gathering snow before dropping down (south and lower elevation) into Colorado with its warmer weather.  It was 36º when we arrived at my brother-in-law’s place in Loveland.

It has been a couple of days of deep feeling and of memories.  We’re resolved to come back to Laramie more often.