Kindness is Key - Fort Collins

Traveling is great. But traveling with a partner is especially awesome because you then have two pools of friends, families, and acquaintances to reach out to when traveling through any area.

In Fort Collins we stayed with Felix Bruner and his brother Dylan for a full week. We had planned to stay there for a few days, but after only a few hours of Felix's welcoming, generous, adventurous energy, we knew we were staying for longer.

Felix knew his area well, so our days were jam packed with hiking, climbing, camping, and swimming adventures in the surrounding national and state parks. We also managed to play volleyball on the CSU campus a few times, check out some of the local eating spots, and get a night on the town, "Old Town".

By the time our week was up, Felix and I had become fast friends. Morgan even mentioned how she and Felix had been friends before, but after living with him for a week she felt that their relationship was on a whole new level.

Our time with Felix came to a close as we watched the 4th of July fireworks from the Flatirons in Boulder. We said heartfelt goodbyes and made plans to meet up again next weekend!

Up to this point in the trip, I would not have considered staying further with many of the people that we met along the way, why was Felix so different? Why did it feel like I was driving away from a brother?

Time spent is powerful. Living in close quarters is powerful. During this week with Felix I feel like he let us into his life: showing us his stomping grounds, offering us food and home, introducing us to his social group, etc. This warm openness that Felix showed Morgan and I is infectious! It helped us to understand where Felix was coming from, where he was going, and made us want to help in anyway we could!!

What I learned from Felix was echoed by an old Persian man that Morgan and I met in a Boulder farmer's market yesterday. This man began talking to us and in no time had offered us a mouth numbing herb and some excellent life advice. At one point in the conversation the man told us that we were beautiful, but that he hoped we were beautiful inside and out. He told us that love would make us beautiful and happy.

"You don't need to know someone to love them", he said. Felix took me in and opened his life to me, without even knowing me. I hope to someday be as heartfelt and generous as these two great men I met along the road through Colorado.