My Boulder Creek Story2 min read
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When I moved to Boulder Creek in 2002, I was on a roll with my business. I had published the InfoGuru Manual, and sales were strong. My wife, Saroj, was shipping out manuals every day.
Soon after, I started my high-end group programs, and they were filling to capacity. After about five years of intensive work, I had made great money but was feeling burnt out.
So, I cut back the group programs along with my income and settled into working with people at a slower pace and enjoying life in my home in the redwoods with a river in my backyard.
I worked completely virtually via web, email, and teleconference and rarely met face-to-face with anyone (other than Zoom a few years later).
But something was missing. I was doing everything on my own, and never felt really connected to the community of Boulder Creek.
For someone who taught people to “get out there” for my whole career, I wasn’t exactly the poster boy for socializing!
Then, a momentous thing happened in 2018. We got two little dogs, and I started walking them every day, first at the local park, which led to my first new friends in years.
After Covid, I got a little tired of driving five miles to the park every day and started to walk my dogs around the downtown Boulder Creek neighborhood.
Downtown Boulder Creek is tiny – one long block with a few stores, restaurants, a grocery, health food, and a hardware store. And the local drinking hole, “Joe’s Bar.”
I discovered that when you walk two cute little dogs you start to meet people – often other people who are walking their dogs. Dogs are the ultimate social lubricant!
My dogs are more extroverted than I’ll ever be, so they became the magic formula for connecting me with people.
And as I walked my dogs along the streets in the downtown area, I started to meet my neighbors for the very first time (after living here 20 years)!
On my walks, I also noticed that there were a number of homeless people who congregated around Junction Park (at the junction of Boulder Creek and the San Lorenzo River).
And then one day at Junction Park, I met Steve, a homeless guy in a van who changed my life.
To be continued next week…
“Homeless Thanksgiving at Junction Park.”
Cheers, Robert
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