Land of Enchantment

I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico staying with my friend Spencer. Tomorrow I am driving home, hopefully in time to catch the NCAA Selection Show. That will be the last leg of a voyage that took me from Boulder to Las Vegas to Los Angeles to Chicago to San Jose back to LA on to Tempe through Albuquerque and home to Boulder. I drove well over two thousand miles on the trip and took three flights. I played four poker tournaments, ten days of play. I final-tabled one, I bubbled another, I finished in the pack in one, and I busted one early. I held chip leads and I rocked short stacks. I slept in ten different beds. I listened to dozens of different radio stations. I finished one book and started another. I ate a lot of tacos. I drank a lot of different beers. I watched less than thirty minutes of college basketball.

Most nights I found myself in a social scenario that in the past may have made me uncomfortable. I never shied away from these situations. Instead I embraced them. Sometimes they turned out amazing, sometimes just okay, but I was never miserable. Usually I had a blast. I am no social butterfly, but I feel a lot more comfortable throwing myself into potentially awkward situations now than I did at the start of the year.

This was the greatest trip I have ever been on. It was filled with joy and excitement, and I return home wiser and happier than I left.