At Least They're Committed

My romance with the Rocky Mountain News was probably the deepest, most intense and desperate venture of my life. Now it’s dead and the grief is no less than if the Rocky had been a person . . . one everyone knew was sick, but no one ever believed would die. That might sound ridiculous, but, like the Stanley in The Shining, the Rocky was a character composed of all the unique, twisted, passionate and perverse people that passed in and out its doors.

For me, the Rocky Mountain News was the boyfriend you walk away from because it’s not a right match anymore and maybe it never was but you wanted it to be so bad that you just kept holding on. It was my one unrequited love and leaving to go to the university was brutal. I held fast to the journalists there, my friends, my allies and peers, and still do. But little by little, my allegiance changed. The incredible team I work with at the university, the family we’ve become, and the lifelong friendships I’ve made here are beyond anything I could have imagined when I left the Rocky.

So I don’t really know how to respond when I’m asked how Saturday’s Farewell to the Rocky was. It was, just, well, it was. Here’s how it went:

I walked in by myself, the bouncer checked my ID and stamped my hand and the first person I saw beyond that was Joe.

• Joe gave me a hug and one of his sweet, Grown-Up Harry Potter smiles and promised to be wasted by the end of the night.
• Massaro hugged, told me how great I looked, asked what I was doing and how it was going, said he didn’t know what to do next, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere near the bar because he’d given that up years ago and in times like these it’s not easy . . .
• M.E. was so sweet, giving a teddy bear hug and flat out shrugging and saying he had no clue what was next. He brought his accordian along and, as Temple was speaking later that night, was playing it in the background. We talked about our summer as “roomies.” He was flying back to D.C. on Monday.
• Mike B. and his beautiful wife Carmen were smiling. What a birthday present! Happy Birthday Mike, you’re unemployed! He was there even after I left, which is a rare thing for Mike. They both seemed to be having fun and that made me smile.
• Kathye T. and Dr. Watson looked wonderful. Gary’s retired, so he’s OK. Kathye, I didn’t get to ask her what was next or at least I don’t remember. She’s got a nice place in Estes. Wonder if she’ll head up there.
• Mark is still playing hockey and he’s about to turn 59. We talked about the importance of being young mentally.
• SteveO and Jane are doing great and haven’t changed a bit since I saw them last.
• Leslie buzzed around and took photos all night in a sad sort of way.
• Mac looks awesome, of course! He has something lined up in Springs . . . for $16,000 less a year than he was making. Fun, fun, fun to tease with him, though!
• Clarkie is still darling and his son, Decker, is playing in a hockey league with the children of Hejduk and LaPerrier, whom he said just chuckle when their kids and others screw up. No stage dads there! Clarkie says LaPerrier is especially awesome!! Yess!!!
• Christine and I vowed not to let each other out of our sights once we found each other. . . I was going to help her enact her revenge on someone she despised. But within a minute or two, people that one or the other of us hadn’t seen in years appeared and we were quickly torn away.
• Scottie didn’t recognize me at first and asked if I was Mac’s “better half.” Funny! I’ve known Scottie, the prep writer, for more than 20 years. My hair is longer now, though. His wife filled me in on all the great stuff their kids were up to. Nice! 🙂 He’s going to go back to the beginning, writing prep news independently, only this time for the Web.
• Haigh is teaching a course at Metro and wants to evolve into online editing. His wife has a whole plan, and let’s hope it works!
• Kreiger, oh man, I have talked to him professionally but probably hadn’t seen him since my first tour at the Rocky about 15 years ago. I see him lots on TV, but even if I hadn’t I would’ve known him. He knew me, too, and gave me an amazing hug! He’s been picked up by the Post and it’s going to be tough. All those years of competing, and now these douche bags are your colleagues?
• Drew is worried. Nobody’s picking up cartoonists anymore. We all thought maybe the Post would, but even big names are being laid off across the country, he says. This is bad. He does such amazing work! Still need to have him sign that never-published Pete Rose-Lord of the Rings cartoon. I’m the only one who has it.
• Hank is happy! Last we talked he was thinking his marriage was probably going to end and now it has and he’s so very happy, a new man! 🙂 He’s still cycling, still healthy and now happy.
• I talked to Phil and Hereward and Smille and Julie — who had linked arms with the governor and was so excited he was there — and Tess looked amazing and Gayle and I started to get caught up and . . .
• JB and his wife were there, he looks confused and I can tell from his FB messages that he is.
• Moosie grabbed me twice and hugged me as if he’d never let me go, that was, on the second time at least, until a brunette in a short skirt walked by and then he nearly knocked me down on his way toward her.
• Scanlon seems to be doing great! He was with a gal who looked like she loved him. His wife had died of lupus a few years back. So happy for him!
• Jay and I took a photo together for Colleen, but it never got to her for some reason. We’ve all been on FB tonight extolling on the virtues of “Animal House.”
• Tony says he still wants to marry me.
• Fairlight found out what was happening at the Rocky by watching my response on FB.
• So did Darrell Proctor. It was great to see him and Cathy!
• Jo promised to get as wasted as the photos posted from the night they found out by the end of all that. That had to be a trick!
• I thanked Mel for keeping us all in the loop. She’s truly loyal; a true warrior.
• Plenti has lost about 100 pounds! So excited about that!
• Tomasson cracked me up. We talked about the night we ran into each

  

  other at Chopper’s and I was with Jean and he was with Stewart and barely knew me, but I knew him from editing his work (His first lede at the Rocky was soon after Issel’s firing and was, “The Nuggets have been through the desert on a horse with no game.” I was impressed!) Anyway, I had dragged him over to meet Adam from work and Adam’s friends — who were also there just by coincidence — and here we were in Chopper’s, named after one of the greatest Nuggets trainers ever, and none of them had a clue who Tomasson was. 😛 Too funny! Anyway, we took a photo to send to Colleen that night, but not Saturday night.

Yikes, so many I haven’t thought of yet. I’ll have to revisit this because the night was so full and so confusing and well, I don’t know. Still have to sort through my head. But as I was leaving, and Joe was at the door after having at least two shots trying to tell me how to get to The Garage and I said I couldn’t understand his directions and he said that’s because I was blond, and upon saying goodbye to M.E. and watching then as Joe ran down the middle of the street toward his car yelling something about someone following him or catching up with him or some such thing, I realized I’ll never get over that place. It will always be my one unrequited . . . or maybe-not-entirely-unrequited love.