Summer Healing Moon
Down to new Bent’s Fort in Morrison last night. Perched high in the red rock (Fountain formation) foothills overlooking a glittery Denver to the east, the Fort is an unusual Western experience. Tom and Roxann Crane took us out for a second wonderful meal and honest, heartfelt conversation.
This meal really started over 28 years on a cold January late afternoon when Tom and I were initiated into the Woolly Mammoths at Valhelga. No kidding, that’s the name. It’s the family retreat of the Helgeson clan, designed by architect and fellow Woolly, Stefan Helgeson. Tom and I didn’t know each other then, though in the six degrees of connection way we had mutual friends.
Since that time both Tom and I have married again, this time to the last partner. We’ve shared twice monthly meetings, annual retreats with this group of 11 men. The relationship among the Woollies now has decades of memories, intense and often intimate sharing, hard times and good times. The extraordinary piece of the experience is the durable and deep friendships we have formed with each other. These are not buddy relationships with a lot of backslapping, sports watching, gun shooting or fish line throwing; rather, these are bff type friendships, now irrevocable and unbelievably precious.
These men will be with me when I fade out on the morning of July 8th and when I wake up hours later. Their support and that of family, docent friends and high school classmates will make that isolated moment far from lonely. Too, they all constitute a reason to recover and continue living this one life.
