Decade of the Scooter

I was remarkably unreflective on New Years Eve, so I'm journaling now about The Oughts.

I graduated college in 2000, Miami of Ohio, so wrapping up a decade out-of-college has made me extra contemplative.

A decade of many mountains, many houses, many jobs. I had 13 jobs in 5 states, and that was just 2001. In total, I think it's around 18 jobs, 6 states and the District.

Summer 2004 I bought a blue scooter and cruised around Denver with all my might for the next 4 years: 100 miles to the gallon! I rode it to substitute teaching in Englewood, to Pathways Church at Wash Park, to grad school in downtown Denver, to softball games in Washington, D.C. I rode it down the spine and to the heart, and if you lived in Platte Park, you know what I mean. When I tore my knee, I hobbled over to the blue machine and strapped my crutches to the back with a climbing rope, arriving conveniently doorstep at wherever I needed to be.

My first week of law school, someone stole the hibiscus-patterned scooter. forever. The earth split beneath me. I had lost my most reliable friend.

I bought another plain-blue scooter and the trend of joyful, goggle-laden street-zipping continued. Those who knew me well in Denver knew that I was a "scooter" person. The thing is, I wasn't. At first. In 2003, I *really* wanted a scooter, but I thought, "I'm not the type of person who can ride a scooter. I'm a girl. I am not cool."

Then, I bought one. I became what I wanted to be: a scooter person. A risk. A transformation. No one stopped me. And I kept cruising forward: small & light, single, fast-enough, unique.

I call this the "Decade of the Scooter" because that scooter brought me so much joy and because it represents a lot of life transitions I made this past 10 years. Several of the best changes in my life seemed out-of-my personality range, at first thought. A Midwesterner turned Coloradan. A teacher turned lawyer. A Denver student turned D.C. lobbyist. That same feeling I had when I finally had the guts to go buy myself a scooter and "be who I wanted to be" is what I went through with the other major life decisions, as well.

Right before the Colorado Bar exam, the scooter died. Engine broke. My fault. I turned 30 that summer and I decided my post-20s years should be post-scooter. I walk to work in Virginia now, and there's no heart and spine close by to see friends, so I don't need a scooter, really. I actually hope that this next decade I won't have to "re-create" myself as much as I did during The Oughts. But I will always have the Decade of the Scooter in my heart :).

Other Decade Awards
- Musician: Sufjan Stevens. Best concert at the Kennedy Center
- Sport Played: Tennis. Good times at the Wooden Open
- Mountain: Winter Park. Bump skiing pre-knee injury, best thrill
- Neighborhood: Platte Park, CO. Of course
- Internship: International Justice Mission. Changed my life.
- Job: Highlands Ranch Rec Center. Not really. I liked the Senate.
- Trip: Sundance Film Festival, UT. Macauley fell on the ice.
- Worst Injury: ACL tear x 3. O, the knee! Was "Decade of the Knee Injury," too
- Best Gift: Mom driving with me across the country countless times. Especially 2x post-knee surgery & I couldn't drive.
- Best Piece of Advice: Dad telling me to think about going to law school.
- Coffee Shop: St. Mark's, Denver. I was always studying & someone was always drawing.
- Coffee Drinking: Hoang home. Best place for anything, really.
- Class: Tie: Irish Lit. at Trinity College, Dublin/Int'l War Crimes at DU Law