Things I'll miss from Longmont

Started: 2012-05-07 21:17:10

Submitted: 2012-05-07 21:51:42

Visibility: World-readable

• The diversity of my old neighborhood: the South Asian boy who came by to play with Cat5; the young Muslim family whom I'd see walking on the path behind the house; the elderly Sikh walking, haltingly, through the neighborhood.
• The mountain views. From my vantage point on the plains, I could see from James Peak to the Mummy Range: fifty miles of snow-capped mountains in three mostly-contiguous wilderness areas that inspired me as I drove to work. Every month or so I'd see some new nuance of the mountains: a new ridge, a new valley, a new glacier, or an entire new mountain, that had been there all along but I simply hadn't noticed it before. I could preview conditions on routes without leaving suburbia.
• Longmont's sensible attitude toward growth. Perched on the eastern edge of Boulder County, the City of Longmont realizes that a reasonable pace of growth can actually make a city a better place. Longmont has figured out how to improve its infrastructure -- widening roads and adding traffic lights. Longmont wouldn't be caught dead trying to impose a plastic bag ban.
• Stepping out of my house on a bright spring morning to the nearly-overpowering fragrance of lilac, an aroma so strong it must be fake but for the actual lilacs I planted around the side of the house.

I'm not going to miss the commute.