Just Lauren

For my last “What I like Wedneday: Colorado” post, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about all the wonderful people I’ve met here and who live here. Colorado, and Denver, wouldn’t be the awesome place it is without the people. Relationships are what really make a wonderful and rich life. People are the ones who run the stores, restaurants, and events that I enjoy going to. Going to those stores, restaurants, and events with people are what make those moments enjoyable. So what better way to end my year of posts than in celebration of the family, friends, and strangers that make my day? There’s no way I’ll be able to list everyone here who has made a positive impact on my life (that lives in Colorado) but I do want to highlight some people. (Ya gotta name drop sometimes, it turns out.)

Let’s first start out with the fact that I am privileged to have all of my immediate family living here (they live in the Springs, which is a bit of a bummer, but I’ll still take it). I love being able to spend time with them and watch my niece and nephew grow. My parents, Kevin, and Kaitlin all supported me when I got a divorce (Kaitlin and Kevin let me LIVE with them on zero notice!). My mom and Kaitlin are always trying to find new vegan recipes to bake for me which is just great. My dad is always up for a conversation about plants. Kevin is always up for letting me play his oculus and now, for printing stuff on his 3D printer!

I have a lot of badass women creators in my life as well. Kaitlin bakes and decorates sugar cookies (and will soon be designing her own cookie cutters). She also runs a business when she has the time – Kate’s Cookie Co. Shari, my girlfriend, runs a comic book blog. Amanda, my friend, runs a recipe website and a book review blog. Mel, my friend, writes and currently has multiple articles and stories published across a few different websites.

Elisabeth, my roommate and friend, is always ready to recommend a book or a comic book about any topic. She’s a great cross stitcher. My friend, Robyn, is always willing to go on walks with me. She encourages my love of Tokyo Premium Bakery and listens to me as I try to figure out the direction of my life. My friend, Meseret, who is a Denver native but currently lives elsewhere, always makes a point to hang out with me whenever she’s in town. She’s constantly on the lookout for new jobs and opportunities for me too. My friend, Jason, always welcomes my bread questions and had me over to teach me baking techniques.

My comic book meetup group, Mel, Kayla, Elisabeth, Shari, Aeri, Stephanie, Mabel, Brittany, Kiarra, and Carolynn are the ones that showed me I can make friends as an adult and I can try out new hobbies. I like comic books because of them! Kayla is always encouraging me to be my best and to be ok with who I am. I love my phone chats with her. Aeri checks in on my randomly. Stephanie dresses up as a dinosaur with me. Mabel gifted me a beautiful art print. Brittany shares vegan recipes with me. Kiarra gifted me her family’s Nigerian recipes and she runs an Avatar RPG for me, Shari, and Elisabeth. Carolynn makes great vegan goodies and is going to try making vegan pavlova with me.

My current coworkers make me laugh, bring me goodies, and teach me new skills. My old coworkers, Brenda, Therese, and Greta, long ago told me I was worth a higher salary and fought to get me that higher pay. I will forever be grateful to the three of them. The maintenance staff at my apartment complex helps repair all the problems of our buildings. A King Soopers employee just a few weeks ago gave me a coupon for $1.25 off my purchase when she found another customer had left it behind. She made my day. Other cashiers in other places I go share pieces of their lives with me or wear cool masks that make me smile and start a conversation. There have definitely been more moments of “You’re a neat person, we could be friends” and I wish I could remember them all.

All of these people would be awesome and worthwhile knowing even if they hadn’t done any of the cool things that I mentioned. I wanted to brag about them for a second though. 😉

You know those moments when you feel so connected to a person and to the world? Where your day is brightened and at least for those few seconds or minutes, nothing is wrong in your life? I get to have those moments because of all the interesting and kind people out there. Thank you. Thank you for filling my life with your laughter, advice, and thoughts. You all make my day and my life. Here’s to more moments like this in 2022. Thanks all for getting through 2021 with me and for hopefully loving Denver a tiny bit more because of it. ❤

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Check out all the things I like about Colorado here!