Durango Tango

Well, it's official:  I finally left Durango, CO in a permanent kind of way.  I celebrated my decision to leave with a month of shenanigans.  I quit my pharmacy job, pierced my nose, and bought my tickets to Iowa and Italy in the course of 72 hours.  I then moshed at Ska Brewery's Anniversary Bash and gave tearful goodbyes to some of the best people I've ever met.

I drove away this morning with a slight sense of liberation and minor panic.  Pulling from every chick-flick movie I've seen, I decided to stare out my passenger side window, sigh heavily, and choke back tears.  When that wasn't getting me anywhere, I thought of making a sign that says, "Help me!  I'm being kidnapped!"  Since neither of those options would really do any good, reflection became the best choice.

Things Durango taught me:

1.  If you are 20 minutes late, you are still 5 minutes early.  I used to be on time.  Always.  Now, I take my sweet, sweet time and couldn't care less.

2.  After over 5 years of living in Durango, I have come to realize that the old adage is true: We've all lived in your house or slept with your girlfriend.  Sometimes both...at the same time.  The town is too damn small. 

3.  Durango Chic does not exist anywhere else in the world.  Only in that town does a plaid shirt count as "really dressed up" and showering once every three days is widely accepted.  Not that I judge the culture but there is a very distinct smell that lingers...

4.  Dumb phones are the best phones!  Suck it, iPhone.  Suck it long, suck it hard. 

5.  On that note, young ladies have a sense of humor there that young ladies should not have (according to mother.)  I personally love telling dirty jokes over several beers in the numerous bars in town.  You will be hard put to find a man there that doesn't appreciate that.  My friends have kindly named me Monty because my sense of humor reminds them of a crass, elderly man.  I can proudly say that I have a dirty old man inside me.

6.  You will work at least 2 jobs at minimum wage, barely being able to pay rent.  At one point, you will be homeless, couch-surf, and free-load off of your amazing friends.  By them a thank you gift once you pull yourself out of the gutter.  You will be over worked, under-payed, and not appreciated.  Thank goodness for Pint Night.

7.  Beer.  I have a greater appreciation for a good beer.  Wheat beers are great but I found that dark beers do have there place in my liver.  We are so spoiled.

8.  I love that no one has a t.v.  We all get together on the front porch, grab a beer and just talk about our day.  I will miss that.

Tonight, I raise my glass to Durango.  You will always hold a place in my heart.  I don't know when I'll return but I know I will go back.