Wabi Sabi: the backstory part two: tending robots

I first met Dani and Ryan in the fall of 2014 right when I moved to Longmont, Colorado and started working a restaurant where they both worked. I wouldn't say that the three of us hit it off instantly, because it's difficult, if not impossible, to hit it off with me either instantly or gradually.

This particular restaurant has a very small staff. This particular town is small too. When I met these two, Dani lived a few blocks from me, but Ryan lived in a different town entirely. We worked so few hours at this place too. The restaurant was open only five days a week and we never seemed to work more than about twenty hours a week. As far as restaurant gigs went, this one was a tough one for bonding with coworkers. Anyone who has worked in a restaurant will tell you, bonding with coworkers is very, very important.

We did bond though. After a little discussion and some trials, we discovered a very important common interest. Booze. Plain and simple, booze. The group of us, sometimes all three, and sometimes me with one or the other, drank in all the classy places or seedy joints all over Longmont.

Eventually they became a couple. I never felt like a third wheel. And although I would choose to be with both of them as it was always more fun, I never said no to one or the other if there were drinks involved.

When Ryan landed a job working for Tesla and their move to Reno was immanent, my emotions were right where they needed to be. I was more excited for them than I was sad to see them go. I believe it's better to see a friend grow than to lament the loss of a bar mate. I miss them terribly, but they have a new life in Reno and Ryan tends robots for a living.

In his waning days in Longmont, I had to both tease him about his move and offer him any advice I knew about the road to Reno. After all, I had taken the trip between here and Reno dozens of times. I found myself writing down towns, diners, cat houses, roadside attractions and alternative routes.

All of this was happening in late November and early December of last year. I had just finished drafting a novel for NaNoWriMo in November. I was loose and lubricated and ready to write more and more. I decided that I would write a road trip story from my experiences on the road between Denver and San Francisco.

I shortened the road trip from the Sugarhouse neighborhood in Salt Lake to Reno. I began writing about two weeks before my friends left. In me, I became grateful for the years I spent on the road even if they were a lifetime ago.