Erika G.

This trip had so many serendipitous moments -- running into my old friend Erika was one of them to be sure. She and I were tight when I lived here -- and we tried to stay in touch with one another and did okay for a little while, but then things started slipping. After I left Driggs she moved to Portland, OR to go to cosmetology school and now she is doing her thing in Driggs.

I had no idea she was back in town.

I was in the bike shop -- for the mere 15 minutes I spent in there -- and I saw a blue Subaru (an old one) pull up outside the shop -- it felt vaguely familiar. And then there she was, pulling her bike (the same bike she used to ride when she and I used to ride a little together) out of the back of the car. I waited until she was all the way in and near the counter, before I said, "Erika?" She is a character and was kind of muttering, "Who just said Erika," and turned to look at me. From there she leaned her bike and started kind of hopping around and then hugged me. I felt the same way. After bumping into her my face hurt from smiling. She was only in that shop for 10 minutes, and those few minutes she and I both had for the bike shop that day overlapped. Sweet. From there we spent an evening together eating out at her friends' restaurant "Forage" and then hung out at her house. The house is amazing -- I helped pour the concrete years ago -- and now it is simply amazing. So cool. She cut my hair too -- and I love it -- it was so fun to just let her go on my hair -- I just told her to go for it -- and she did. I miss her.

The thing about Erika is she is always doing something... So are most of the people around Driggs -- there was a girls' trail run on Wednesday night that I missed because of my wounded glacading knee -- but I still loved knowing that it was happening -- that there were girls running together in the woods... I sincerely, bottom of my heart, miss living by Erika and women like her.