After all that jazz, the walk home went better than expected. I cried hard for one block, then my rational side finally kicked in and reminded me that I chose to leave. Haha, oh yeah. Block 2 was spent getting my breath back to normal pace. By the time I reached our own block, I was myself again. I decided to enter on the alley side since I wasn't on Wendy bike and didn't have to lock her up in front. Next to the alley, I noticed a gentleman pulling a wagon with boxes in it. The LoDo Christmas food drive ones! I LOVE this charity!
In buildings around LoDo, boxes are placed in lobbies to collect food items for local families, just in time for Christmas. AMC laughs at me because I began shopping for the drive in like, October. Our bag of goods was ready to go at Halloween so, that is why I was so excited to see this man that I yelled to him, "Yay! Is it time?!" From that point, since he turned out to be a nice chap, we chatted a bit about the project. I asked him who puts it on, so to speak? It's the LoDo Neighborhood Association. I had never heard of it, but boy! Did I want IN!! So, last month I became a member (young professionals are just $5 for the year :) and last night I attended my first meeting- WEEbots. Weekends begin on Thursdays. I didn't know what to expect, all I knew was where it was (District Meats, a new restaurant 2 blocks away) and what time (5:30-7:30.)
I polished myself up best I could, put on my warmest jacket, headed out the door and down the 2 blocks. It wasn't until I could see the District Meat's awning and people mingling in the window 50 steps away that I realized that 'I am not with anybody, (AMC was in Colorado Springs for an early morning health insurance thing) no one is meeting me here, and I know not a single person at this event. Oh boy.' I headed in anyway and noticed a line going left. I was too fidgety to stand in line right away so I walked to where things were clear, perhaps to get a birds eye view of the digs and how to proceed. I found a seat at the bar towards the other end of the party and scanned the crowd. Suprisingly, 99% of the members were over 60. Now, this doesn't bother me because I can hang. I've spent plenty of time socializing with my Grandma's friends at their old stomping ground, the bar of the golf course in their neighborhood. Plenty an evening have I spent chatting it up with older people over wine, and I like it! Older people don't mess around for the most part, they say what they feel like saying, leading to good conversation.
Anyway, I'm sitting at the bar trying to blend in, when the bartender asks what I'll have: What kind of wine is she having? (pointing to a woman down the way's white wine.) He said, "that wine is served free only for those with that event. I said, 'I am with that event, I just don't know anyone and that's why it doesn't look like it.' We had a little chuckle over this, which helped my butterflies. Sipping my wine, I noticed everyone had name tags on. Yes! Some kind of "enrollment process" Awesome! I got in line now. Up by the marker and tags was the President, he was outgoing and charismatic, so we chatted. I told him about the 'Life in Lodo' posts I do and he cut me off saying, have you met David?!! I said that he, wearing the name tag that said, "El Presidente" was the first person I've met tonight so, no. And there was David, standing an arm's length away... he is a Denver blogger as well. That was fun, not only to meet a fellow LoDo fan, but one that writes about it in blogger town! You can check out his blog here.
Next, I headed over to the food zone, finding another seat at the bar. At this point, I returned a few text messages and was that "phone girl" for a few moments. I began thinking to myself that perhaps that was the end of the event for me. I figured, I met the President and a Denver blogger, I could go home feeling quite content with the first meeting's experience. Just then, I got a tap on the shoulder. LeeAnn, our landlord! I love her! She is probably 65, is still a successful LoDo realtor and runs miles every single day, no matter the weather. She's hip. Anyhow, she was suprised to see me there and asked how I heard of the group, I spared her the details saying, "I love this neighborhood!" We talked about Life in Lodo and she asked, "well, have you met Manny? He is LoDo." And so she took me to him.
Enter Manny. He and his wife moved to LoDo in 1976, when it was a gang filled and as he put it, when only drunk, homeless people filled the streets. He purchased a 5 floor building for $75,000. The seller later said to someone, "I just sold a downtown building for 75k to a crazy doctor." (He is a radiologist.) Anyhow, Manny and his wife are visionaries. They saw the pearl in this Denver oyster long before many. They helped transform the neighborhood into what it is today. Manny even has a pedestrian bridge named after him, "Manny's bridge" that I crossed everyday by bike, going to my old job. And get this, Manny also has a bathtub on the roof of his building. And rumor has it, and was confirmed by him last night, that he goes and sits in it when the weather is nice enough....naked. He has a view of the city, Union Station and the mountains. He knows how to do it!
After Manny filled me in on his life happenings, I found some new friends quite naturally. An older couple who has traveled quite a bit. I'm always curious to ask fellow travel junkies who have been to many differing parts of the planet, where is there favorite place? It didn't take the wife any time to say, "Paris. Well, all of France really." Ah, a couple they are French then. I think that's why we like certain places alot, because we feel comfortable there, it's almost like we are from there. So, now I will always think of them as the French couple, though they are from Maryland originally. Because they are French then, I asked if they are dying, like me, to have a bakery in LoDo? oh yes they exclaimed. And then we went on to say we'd also love reasonably priced flower stand, as well as a nice little grocery store. These are the 3 businesses that I fight with myself over opening in my daydreams. It so hard to pick which one, why, I'd like to do them all!
It was so neat to spend the evening with people who share my love for the charm and unlimited possibility for this little neighborhood. I love the group, many who are older that saw the beauty I do, long before I did. They also walk these streets admiring the brick buildings, and maybe they too, walk the line between loving it's history, where she stands today and the brink of tomorrow's glory. Until last night, I was silly enough to think that maybe I was the only one. Next month is the 25th annual meeting of LoDoNA, phew, I got here just in time!
It's funny, thinking back to seeing the man pulling the wagon on November 31st, just after crying over a chapter's ending. My walk home was like the moment of reflection spent after finishing a book, closing it's cover for the last time. I think I lucked out this time, at the closing of that book, another sat next to me, ready to be started, right at chapter 1. Looking back now it seems as if that man was pulling my welcome "wagon' really.. to the next chapter.
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| Manny, Mr. LoDo. married to Mrs. LoDo |
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| during a moment of being that 'phone girl' |
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| polished up an ready to hit the town, Weebots all the way. |
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| I found this photo from the walk home. They they are, the welcome wagon!! |
