Chapter 3... a brief encounter with destiny

I took a bus from the airport to downtown Denver. It was a cool and cloudy day which was great to walk around in with a 30 pound backpack. My main objective was to explore the city till the afternoon when I was supposed to meed up with Destiny. There were a few things I needed for the trip such as a water bottle and soap, so I thought I'd check out the REI downtown Denver.
I was in high spirits walking up to REI. I got to Denver safely, and from what I'd seen it was going to be an enjoyable morning. In front of REI there was an incredible gift waiting for me. On top of the garbage out front there was a box of pizza with 2 good slices still in it, and next to the garbage there were 2 donuts in a box. With Kaki King in my headphones I smiled, grabbed a piece of the pizza, and danced around feeling good while consuming my breakfast. A man walked out of REI. I raised my pizza in a toast and simple said "good morning sir" with a smile on my face. There was no return. No eye contact, no "hello", no nod... NOTHING! But what the kind sir did was he grabbed the remaining slice of pizza, and the two donuts, and walked silently back into the store to throw them away. wait.... WHAT? My smile quickly turned to a frown in disappointment. I don't know why, but I still proceeded into the store and bought my items. At the front counter there was a friendly young face. I told the girl in front of me the story about the dick fuck out front. The "asshole" manager. I asked her if my breakfast could be given back to me. She told me that might be a problem, but I guess a few free cliff bars wouldn't be.
From here on out I would walk around the 16th street mall. Its kind of funny how similar every city in america really is. What can you really do when exploring cities? Im not out to shop... I just spectate all the funny shopping families that generally all look the same. Sometimes, ill sit and talk to another traveler or bum, but nobody else has anything to say to me. So I decided to walk behind the scenes. The alleys are WAY more fun than the strip. I immediately had people to talk too, graffiti to admire, free shit galore just waiting for me to take, and all the "behind the scenes America folk"; aka dishwashers, cooks, janitors, garbage men, all the other shitty jobs where their smoke brake was the best 5 minutes of their day. I ended up laying in a patch of grass, wishing I had a sketchbook, and watching all the children nearby get their faces painted.
Around noon I received a call from Destiny...
Let me give you a quick bit of history and information. Destiny and I were together during my first year of art school. She was at one time my biggest inspiration when it came to my creativity. We would sit in my room and do nothing but artwork. There was a bunch of substance abuse involved, but even so, we would create artwork on top of artwork on top of artwork. We did this for the entire year and ended up splitting up at the end of the school year. There was no communication between us at all for 4 years. That's not to say I didn't want to keep communication between the two of us, I just had no way of getting a hold of her. 2 weeks before I left Asheville, she randomly got a hold of me and I was extremely excited because she now lived exactly where I was traveling too.
Maybe I was dreaming, but I envisioned so many good things when we would be in the same room again 4 years later. I cant write all the things I wish too here on what happened, but it wasn't all the beautiful things i envisioned those 2 weeks in between the time she got a hold of me and the time i walked into her apartment. There were some trues. She was indeed absolutely beautiful, her artwork was just as amazing as ever before, and she was much healthier than I previously remembered. Destiny and her boyfriend were very welcoming and upon entering I immediately felt at home and in a good place.
Her boyfriend was in and out all day giving Destiny and I time to catch up and speak of the crazy times we shared 4 years prior. She gave me a couple drawings and photos of the days at CCS, and a half filled sketchbook for my travels...


I believe the most important thing for me did happen. She once again inspired me to create art, and now with her sketchbook in my hands I started drawing and painting in her studio. Destiny, Anthony and I had some drinks, she made us food, and the two of them departed from the apartment.

Destiny went to work, while Anthony went out drinking. I immediately went to bed on the porch out front...

I was lucky to fall asleep at 10 pm, because I awoke to a couple people still partying at 6 am inside. I awoke and joined them. It was early morning, so I didn't take part in the case of beer they would drink until noon. But none the less it was entertaining and obnoxious at the same time. As much as I would love to write the full experience, I will not go into all of the details of this bizarre morning. Not looking forward to the possibility of it all happening again I decided to leave denver earlier than expected. My plans were to stay with Destiny for a few days, but it just wasn't the atmosphere I traveled across the country to experience. Sometimes I dream too big.
I awoke destiny from her sleep around 3 in the afternoon, and said good bye. I jumped on a bus out to Boulder, still not sure of the decision I made to not give denver another nights experience. As much as I wanted to spend more time with Destiny, it was time to head out to Boulder and spend some time with one of my best friends... Brandon.