I won $700 yesterday

“I’m calling you at 7:30am. Be ready for an adventure.” 

This was night before last. You see, I’m new to Colorado, and that means I had no idea about this tiny little town up in the mountains where they used to panhandle gold or whatever, but now they have casinos and cute little boutique shops sprinkled with little ice cream parlors and mom and pop souvenir places in between. 

(FYI: It’s called Cripple Creek, and it’s crazy adorable— more on that later, possibly, if I don’t digress away too far.)

And so, we set alarms for way too early, called each other on the actual phone to make plans, because that’s what morning people do, I guess, and met up. 

We grabbed some road trip snacks (I went trolli sour gummies, obviously) and headed up the pass. 

I think we sometimes forget that adventures in our own backyard are still adventures. 

That’s what I love about being in a new state. I get to see it all for the first time, and feel like a tourist, but I have fast internet and my dog to come home to. 

The thing about an adventure is, you can’t really have plans. I mean you need some idea— but most of the time it’s a loose plan. 

Those are my favorite kids of trips, because those are the times where you get a little lost. 

And what is getting a little lost for, if not to find yourself? 

Which is what I’ve been trying to do lately. Figure out who I am as a person now that I’m going through a divorce and my kid is out of the house. 

I used my slot strategy that some old spiritual woman taught me when I used to drive up to the WinStar in Oklahoma to blow off steam. I’d tell it to you, but she said if I ever put it on the internet I’d be cursed. 

Which like, I believe because I turned $20 into $700. 🙂

It wasn’t even about that though. It was fun because we had some money to spend after, and I might try and do something cool with my leftover winnings or whatever, but that isn’t why I was there. 

I was there for the adventure. The new people, the town, and the memories. Part of finding yourself is making new memories as you are. In this newest chapter of you’re you. 

I love the book analogy when it comes to the story of life.

I always use it because as a storyteller, it feels that way. Like these little segments in our lives wrapped up in a nice little formatted style all ready for us to read the next few tomorrows. 

I think we have to find ourselves at several different times during our lives. It’s not just a one time thing, because we can all get a little lost. 

It’s in the small adventures. The quiet times with friends where you drive through the mountains and talk out loud until your voice hurts just trying to figure out why we are here.