I spent my Saturday night this weekend reminiscing with the lovely Kaci. It may sound silly, but it was all brought on by me considering highlighting my hair again like I used to do. I was showing her pictures that I had found on the Internet of pretty highlighted hair, and next thing we knew, I was sending her old pictures I have of myself with long, almost blonde hair. That was definitely, “back in the day.” But when I really think about it, it wasn’t that long ago.

It’s amazing to me how only a year has passed since I graduated college. It feels like a different life. The parties, the bars, the apartment, the CU Independent (which was my life), the classes, the bars I worked at, the boyfriends, the friends – they feel like they existed forever ago. Like they are just a figment of my far distant past. In reality, it was just a year ago. One little year. Granted, it’s been a crazy year – moving and starting a new life in San Francisco, but I never thought that the memories of Boulder would feel so far away.

Even moreso, I can’t believe that I’ve lived in San Francisco for ten months. That’s almost a year. That’s almost a year of working at Context Optional. That’s almost a year of living away from my family. That’s almost a year of me being truly and wholly on my own.

It’s incredible how much has changed over the past few years. No longer are my best friend and I spending our Thursday nights driving downtown to Club Bash in Denver, getting handed bottles of vodka on I-25, summering on the lounge chairs by the pool, or making color-coded lists of all the boys we were dating at one time.

Life changes.

My incredible best friend just gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Ashlynn Sage was born on April 27, 2010 and I couldn’t be a more proud “Auntie Lo.”

No longer do I have a summer break. No longer can I pick up an extra shift at the bar to buy those shoes I’ve been craving. No longer can I spend my summers in sundresses and flip-flops because San Francisco is apparently a rain-box in the summertime. No longer can I go golfing with my dad anytime I want. (But I’m not missing our annual fly-fishing trip!)

As time goes on, things change. Friends change, goals change, opinions change. But Ferris Bueller may have been on to something,

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

We’ve all got to take a minute and slow down. Take a break from work, take a minute to look around ourselves and see what we’re doing, where we are, and remember how we got here. Remember those friends and reconnect with them. Make sure that we’re happy, and if we’re not right where we want to be in life, that we have a clear path to get there. Life moves too fast to let it pass us by.

Oh, so you want to see a picture of me with really long, highlighted hair?

FINE.

I kind of miss it…