March 15, 2020: Durango or Bust (I love your scissors)

A new Durango Chamber Diplomat (Dip) and trusted with the giant scissors!

I love to go new. There is something exhilarating about going for the freshly wrapped gift in a white elephant gift exchange. Not knowing what lies under the colorful wrapping has always caught my wonder and attention.

I now find myself going new on most days. With a life with less restrictions (no boys' calendars to coordinate nor 8-to-5-type work days), I find myself in my new city of Durango, Colorado filled with people whom I have never met and in places I have never been.

The days of raising three sons are in my past. But I still have three 'boys' in my life today. Garrett, Larry and Zeke (husband, father-in-law and dog) are my current partners-in-crime. Every day brings something new. Some things are mundane and necessary, like weaving our way through the healthcare system and the ever-important need for a new dog groomer. More times than most we find little treasures as we work through our days. We find them in new friends and interesting places.

It's been over thirty years since I moved to a new city, ready to settle down and be an active part of the community. It was May of 1989 when I drove into Nebraska from Iowa as the new girl in town. I was fresh out of college and ready to start my new job in Downtown Omaha as a staff accountant. Other than a few relatives, I knew no one.

In many ways, my current exhilaration of going new is aided by these flashbacks and feeling like I'm twenty years-old again. Times have changed since that spring day unpacking in Omaha, pre-internet and social media. Back then I found my way around the business and social community through the local newspaper and phone book.

I located the Omaha Running Club in the yellow pages. I promptly left a message on their answering machine, proceeding to join events and races while meeting new friends. I later became the club president. Many of my close friendships in Omaha were formed over running. I had no hesitation in recently joining the Durango Running Club. Only this time I registered via a FaceBook group and with the help of the internet.

Within days of our arriving to Durango, Garrett and I attended their big annual Chamber of Commerce soiree. We thought it would be a good way to learn about the local businesses and leaders. This proved to be a good call. I am now a Diplomat for the Durango Chamber of Commerce. The function of a Diplomat is to attend the local business ribbon cuttings and Chamber events. It's been a great way to become part of the business community.

Meeting new people, from all walks of life, and hearing their stories gives me that same feeling of 'going new' in a gift exchange. From Larry and our new friends at The Tavern to the third generation Durangoans  who have given Garrett and I wonderful history lessons on the city over dinner, our new life has been full of sweet surprises in our new surroundings.

Leaving a recent ribbon cutting for the Chamber, I saw a little boy wearing a Star Wars t-shirt. For a moment I was taken back in time remembering the Lane boys wearing their own Star Wars wear with dirty faces and big smiles. I had to stop and admire the boy and his cool shirt.

"I really like your Star Wars shirt!" I told him as I bent down to his level.

Without missing a beat, he quickly relayed his own feelings.

"I LOVE your scissors!"

Forgetting I was holding the oversized scissors used to cut the ribbon, I laughed. I bet he would LOVE this scissors, as my own sons would have at his age. The years of my Omaha living slowly flashed in front of me. What fun the Lane boys would have had with these enormous scissors. And then I remembered the mischief Ben once created with my own prized pair of scissors.

The mischief was conceived by Ben, with his two friends as accomplices. They were around nine years old and playing in the basement in our Omaha home. As I bustled through the main level of our home doing my typical 'Mom' things, I could smell a strong odor in the house. It smelled of glue or some sort of chemical. I prowled through the upstairs and main floors trying to locate the smelly culprit. Finally in the basement, I found it.

The three boys had located a can of gold spray paint. Its use was intended for crafting Christmas ornaments. The boys thought another use was better. They basically spray painted gold everything and anything that they thought interesting. Toys, pictures, collectibles. You name it, they sprayed it. It was a solid gold museum of treasures. The entire house was polluted with the toxic odor until the can ran dry. Ben's brothers were furious over their ruined toys (although Ben thought they looked great).

I was mortified to find my expensive Gingher sewing scissors, a gift from my mom, fully coated in gold. I still have the scissors. It doesn't move as agilely with a coat of paint, but I will always treasure it in its golden splendor.

Watching the big scissors cut the red ribbon last week, I was reminded of my own golden scissors tucked away in my sewing basket. I was also reminded that the old parts of my life are actually alive in the new.

It's the memories of past runs with my forever friends that push me to find new running friends in Durango. With every new Rotary meeting and ribbon cutting, I am reminded of favorite clients and colleagues and that our journeys of past and present really are goldenly woven together.