A Week in Colorado

Last week Shea came out here to Colorado to visit her extended family, the Pippengers. We wanted her visit to be a chance for her to relax and we also wanted to give her a chance to celebrate the life that she had so desperately fought for in intensive care. We understood that Shea’s plight had become so well known and that the kindness and concern of hundreds of people from her community had been so abundant that we wanted to offer her a couple days to herself. So, it was to be just Shea, her aunt Joy, her uncle David and her cousin Jonathan hangin’ out in the mountains of Colorado for a week.
One thing we learned was that in the future we’ll probably have to get Shea to the airport a little bit earlier than other travelers. On her way out here the 42 screws and 8 steel plates that were keeping her skeletal structure together, gave airport security some suspicions. They thoroughly investigated while she made her way through the metal detectors. (We’ll make a note of that in the future).

The first night Shea was here we actually got a little snow which is lucky because it may be the last time we see snow around these parts until next winter. We jumped in the hot tub and caught snowflakes on our tongues and ate snow that collected on the hot tub cover while our hair froze in the cold night..... a pretty good “How do you do?” from the Colorado climate.
We hung out at the house for a day or two and then made our way to Manitou Springs. Manitou is a little mountain town in Colorado that has lots of character. We drove up to see the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians whose peaceful pueblos were once scattered around the Southwest. Then went and tasted the mineral water of Manitou Springs and taught Shea about the legend from the early 1920s. This legend says that the Ute Indians put a curse on the Historic Manitou springs if the waters were used to make a profit. It was right around the time European settlers piped the sacred mineral spring water into a bathhouse. The project failed and still no man has been able to profit from the sacred waters. Then we went and saw some of aunt Joy’s friends who live in Manitou and have a pet donkey named Molly Sue. She bit Jonathan, but he didn’t mind because the donkey was so freakin’ cool. With its huge head and tendency to do pirouettes out of excitement, who could keep from loving this donkey? We left and got some delicious Thai food and then headed home.

We hung out for a couple more days and relaxed, then headed south for Mother’s Day Weekend (thank you Susan for lending us your daughter during Mother’s Day). We drove towards Bishop’s castle. This is a 250 foot high castle single-handedly built by one man, Jim Bishop. It was a beautiful warm day with lots of sunshine so we rode through some characteristically amazing Colorado scenery in a convertible with the top down. It was Awesome! The castle was complete with stained glass windows and climbing towers. It was truly an astonishing sight to see something so huge, completely assembled by one man. Downright inspiring if you ask us. We even got a chance to chop it up with Jim who I’m sure Shea would tell you is quite a character.

We spent the night in the sleepy town of San Isabell, had some great pie, kicked around Lake Isabell and taught Shea how to drive a car with a standard transmission. Good times. Unfortunately, that night the cabin we slept in had the windows open and the heat turned off and Shea’s cousin, Jonathan, didn't realize that the poor little Arizona native was probably freezing. He just pulled up the covers, rolled over and fell asleep. He still feels bad about it.

Sunday and Monday nights were spent relaxing with Shea. Monday night Shea kicked it with Jonathan and his friends who, of course, instantly fell in love with her because that’s just the way she is and they had all around good times.

We took her to the airport early (just in case) and sent her back to her loving family and friends, but now we have a gaping hole in our family dynamics after only a week with Shea. We miss her very much already and hope y’all appreciate what an incredible human being you’ve got on your hands out there in Georgia.

With Love,
Jonathan Pippenger