Homecoming

Sometimes I feel like I live in 2 places. I am still very connected to the life I left in Albuquerque over 4 years ago, and I come home 3-4 times a year. I love coming home to my parents, brother, and grandparents, and it is often bittersweet in that I am sad that time is passing by and I don’t get to spend more time I have with them. You can never calculate the moments you have with someone, and you don’t realize how precious those moments were until they are gone. We often “spend” time and take it for granted, unwittingly forgetting how valuable our time really is. It is also wonderful coming home to old friends. People you’ve known your whole life, or at least for a significant amount of “time” and experience.

Today, I got to go ride with a very special person to me. My friend, Nina. I met her when I was 19 years old, and first getting into cycling(I am now 26). I had no idea what I was doing and she was there. “Let’s go ride!” she’d say. I also learned a lot of other things from her – coffee, healthy eating (I had no idea what ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ food was), being an advocate for the environment… and I often hear stories of her taking people out on their first or second bike ride ever. She doesn’t get enough recognition for all the things she does, so I am giving it her here. Thank you Nina, you are an amazing woman!

So. I met her at her house this morning, and was greeted with a delicious latte from her beloved (and super nice) espresso machine:

and her malamute, Qimmiq. No one is as loving towards dogs as Nina. It’s awesome, and I know what kind of dog owner I want to be (when I stop traveling so much and can have a furry little friend of my own).

I was too busy blabbing and playing catch up in our lives on the ride and forgot to take photos until the end.

In school, they always warned us about flash floods with the tag line, “Ditches are deadly, stay away.” I don’t see them often, but today, the water was surging rapidly into the ditch. A lot of the bike paths in ABQ parallel arroyos.

and to leave you with a funny and awesome sign that Swiftwick Socks posted on facebook awhile ago that I hung on to.

I really enjoy a funny sign…

Time to go ride some trails!!!