This year was our envelope group’s TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I can’t tell you how amazing that is. The story of the group’s beginnings is here, so you know how this thing came about. Considering the state we were in that first night, none of us had any premonition that we’d make such efforts to turn it into an annual event. It’s something we all look forward to every year, even though Amy’s in North Carolina with two small kids and Kirstin lives in Chicago. It’s impressive that we can still get together every year mostly thanks to those two who are willing to spend the time, energy and money to get to Colorado. We did North Carolina once; Christa and I met Kirstin in Nashville where she was at a convention for work. We rented a car and drove through the beautiful Smoky Mountains to Carrboro to meet Amy and did envelopes at her house. I’m certain we’ll have more out-of-Colorado experiences, but since Amy and Kirstin both lived in Colorado, they can usually combine the trip with friends and family visits.
So TEN YEARS! We had assumed we’d be in Paris for our tenth year celebration. Funny how it’s so safe to make those assumptions when you’re ten years out, but when the time comes, a more practical plan is usually settled upon. We decided to go back to Steamboat Springs, the place where it all started. This time, however, we weren’t camping. We got a condo close to the ski mountain and we each had our own room. This was also a significant year because it was Amy’s first solo trip without her family. Boy was she ready! She was even excited to be alone on a plane! I think our group is pretty uncommon in that there’s only one mom. I feel like in most other 40-something girlfriend circles, the majority are moms. How’d us non-moms find each other? I’m banking on Amy’s kids taking care of some of the envelope’s logistical duties when we get too old to drive ourselves to the airport.
Another biggie this year was that Kirstin had to cancel at the last minute due to her dog having a bad case of the doggie flu that was putting dogs in danger in Chicago around that time. I almost wanted to cancel the envelope ceremony because she wasn’t going to be there. It sucked not having a member there, although it’s impressive that we’ve gone ten years without an absence! We ended up Skyping with her during the ceremony and it worked out great…second best to having her there, of course.
So Christa, Amy and I played on our mini-vacati
on in Steamboat. We shopped in Silverthorne on the way up where Amy fulfilled a last minute envelope item: buy new clothes! We claimed our beds at the condo and went for a hike to the waterfalls not far from town. Then went to a grocery store and spent a good hour throwing things into the cart, adding ingredients for mojitos as well. The envelope ceremony was gonna be that night.
We Skyped Kirstin, who without planning had chosen her own rum drink…a Rumchada. Funny we all had the same idea for the ceremony, even with thousands of miles between us. Each person went through their envelopes, wrote new ones for next year and we finished up our laughs, sentiments and drinks.
The next day, Christa, Amy and I went to Steamboat Lake, where we camped ten years ago for the accidental kickoff of the envelope tradition. We canoed and paddle boarded across the lake, had a picnic in the only shady area around the lake, then paddled back across. 
At some point, we roped the paddle board to the canoe and tug-boated the rest of the way.
Later that evening, we w
ent out for some margaritas and spontaneous shopping.
I rarely shop, let alone drop $60 on a dress. But that’s just what I did. Now I know the secret…margaritas! We headed to the gondola for our sunset happy hour, where we rode to the top of the mountain and joined a hundred or so other sunset oglers trying
to find a worthy spot. We decided to get out of the restaurant and hike a bit to where there were less people. The sunset had started (amazing!) and we saw another threesome who needed their picture taken. So we traded phototaking and walked a ways, watching the sunset and looking at the beautiful flowers. We hear “Hey Girls, Girls!” and look to the threesome who were pointing at something behind us…turns out, a full moon was just beginning to peek out from the mountain. It was so incredible and how great is it that the strangers called out to us…I took it as a random act of kindness. That was really a special moment. Anyway, the sun was but a sliver, on its way down on this side and the moon was but a sliver, on its way up on that side and we got to witness them both at the same time! 
And to boot, it turns out it was a BLUE MOON! What an enormous feeling and a perfect ending to a memorable ten year anniversary.
We then trekked with our sky lantern to fill it with virtual wishes and set it aflame towards the sky. I’ll write more later on thoughts about our envelopes over the past 10 years and what we’ve come to learn in the process.
