Rocky Mountain High

Golda has been in a post-mission depression since she got home and discovered that life is meaningless when you're not spreading the joy of the gospel in Hong Kong. Really, re-entry is rough. It's hard. Looking back, my advice to families who have a missionary come home, is MAKE TIME FOR THEM! Just put thing son hold. They're disoriented and sad. They just need your presence. Golda got home December 1, and we were BUSY! It was Christmastime, which involves an amped-up schedule already, but we also had Golda's homecoming, Ptolemy's baptism, Ruby's mission call, dozens of Nutcracker performances, a busy music store and countless parties and events to host and attend. I pictured Golda just jumping into the fray, but she was unable. She felt lost and superfluous. From the outside looking in, she felt like we didn't need her. I was constantly asking her to do things like drive kids to ballet, which I thought was helpful to "keep her busy" and help her integrate into life again. And, I'm sad to admit it, I was a bit impatient with her sincere sorrow. I told her it was normal, and she needed time to get over it, which was true, but what I didn't do was take the time to just BE with her. None of us did. We were all so happy to have her back, we didn't want to notice that she was drowning in the life that we had so eagerly anticipated her being a part of again.

It wasn't all bad. There was a lot of fun to be had, and slowly Golda oriented herself, but she needed to do something big, to get her heart pumping again. She booked a trip to Europe. She used every penny she had, which is the Dopp way, to arrange this trip. She worked for me on weekends at the store, and took any odd job she could find. She starved and saved food money. She took public transportation instead of driving. She needed this.

The flight she booked was out of Denver, because it was a steal of a deal. Nonstop to Paris for like $450 over spring break. Scott and I were more than happy to drive her to Denver so we could spend time with her. It was a super fun trip. We woke up early and drove without incident to Fort Collins, where we had lunch at a trendy little burger place. We dropped off Golda at the airport where she commented, "I hope this trip fixes me." If anything can fix a person, it's a couple weeks in Paris and London with old friends.

We interrupt this blog post to imform you that Araceli got her drivers license. Is that how you spell it, really? Blogger is being weird with pictures, and it's hard to upload them, so I'm leaving these here. Celi having her license has been great. It saves me SO much driving! She's working hard to be responsible and not do anything spontaneous like driving to San Francisco instead of going to seminary. She probably would if she could afford the gas.

Anyway, these pictures are in random order, but after dropping excited little Golda off, Scott and I drove back to Fort Collins. We used our free Marriott night to book the best, most darling hotel. It's called The Elizabeth, and you have to stay there. I haven't been to Fort Collins for 25 years. Long ago, I spent a week there, staying with a violin varnish guru, Geary Baese, learning his varnish secrets and riding in his Model T Ford over to Estes Park for a party. Eccentric guy, and now I see why he chose Fort Collins as his home. It's full of characters who would drive a Model T over the Rockies for a party. As a weekend getaway, Fort Collins is incredible. Scott and I discovered far too many cool places to enjoy in just one night. We had an amazing time. We'll definitely go back to try some of the restaurants we didn't get to sample and stroll the downtown area further. It was so vibrant on a Thursday afternoon, so full of people, most of them older like us, just enjoying life. We loved it.

The next day, we set out early so we could be home to work. Unfortunately, I-80 was closed due to wind and snow. What could have been a 6-hour drive turned into a 12-hour journey over the Rocky Mountains. As soon as we got everything at home squared away, we enjoyed the drive. It was touch and go over the pass outside Vail, because it was snowing and we were afraid we would be turned back without four wheel drive. Everything was fine, though, and the weather wasn't too bad. We stopped in Vail for some ramen and made a new friend, the chef. He was from California. We had a nice chat. 

In just two days, we experienced a super fun getaway in a place that's close by, yet a world away. Travel doesn't have to be exotic of expensive to feed your soul.