Saturday, July 3, 2010

Shiny Happy People

So I've been living in Greenwood Village for about a month now, and I figured it'd be a good idea to make an update to the old blog since my last post was...about a month ago, go figure!

One of the big stereotypes I have had since growing up about people living in Denver (or the Denver area) was that they aren't typically the friendly sort. No passing by on the sidewalk with friendly smile and a warm hello. Of course I have family and friends from Denver, so this rule never applied to them--only those "other"people. Now it's time for me to swallow my pride and eat a big helping of humble pie. Okay, I may be exaggerating a little, but I've still been pleasantly surprised.

The people around where I live are really friendly; that's one of the first things I noticed when I moved in. Usually when I get home from work, Tim from across the way and Kevin from upstairs are outside with their sons Liam and Kai in the midst of a never-ending squirt gun war. They always smile and ask me about work or how I'm getting settled in, if I've been watching the World Cup or if I'm planning on going to another Rockies game soon. Sometimes Jack from next door will be out on his patio watering his flowers, or Gay (yes, her name is Gay) from the other next door will be out riding her "trike" with her dog Ralphie. Nice people.

My new church, Our Father Lutheran, is great! I feel really welcome there, and the people are really nice. A few weeks ago they convinced me to "Ride the River," a 30-mile bike ride along the Platte to benefit their youth ministry, and last weekend I joined in on Sunday night volleyball. More nice people.

About once a week I hop a train to Downtown for a ball game. I usually find myself in some sort of conversation. Whether it's a girl wanting to take a picture of my CSU Rams hat (weird?), a guy who wanted me to help him start train-wide "Go Rockies", "USA", or "Yankees suck" (again, weird?) cheers, or just a random group of people who decided I needed to be in their conversation, I don't find myself terribly bored on the train. Granted most of the people riding back from Downtown are a bit tipsy, but their still really nice--do we see a pattern?

Here's to Days Just Packed with shiny, happy people! (and yes, I did turn on the REM song when I wrote this).