Just got back home from a brief visit in Athens and Atlanta Georgia.  Had a blast seeing some old faces and seeing my hometown of Athens. Just wish my Georgia Bulldogs would have played better against Ole Miss, but that’s okay.

I was happy to visit but was already eager to get back to Colorado.  The fall weather is upon us here and soon the mountains will be covered in snow and we will be ready to ski.  This part of the year excites me the most and I hope to be outside this weekend.

Soon I’ll be going to Indio, California for the Desert Trip concert featuring Paul McCartney and Rolling Stones.  Should be a legendary show.  Until then I hope to get as much as I can out of the Colorado fall weather.

It’s been approximately 5 weeks since I moved out to the eastern plains of Colorado and I am happy to say that I fully settled into my home and my role as a local physician here.  Over the past weekend I was able to get out west and do some rock climbing with some very cool friends and needless to say, it was a blast!

I also ended up doing some MAJOR grocery shopping as I am actually limited in grocery stores around the small town where I currently reside.  And this is where the title of the blog post comes into play.  Growing up in southeast Georgia and having an Indian mom who wanted Indian vegetables and Indian spices, we had to make regular trips to Atlanta to shop for all of these things in Indian stores and farmers’ markets.  I always enjoyed these trips because it was a chance to go the big city with all the big buildings.

After spending time with friends I shopped like crazy in Denver for things like almond milk and Trader Joe’s supplies.  I bought coffee, spices, raisin bread, brown rice, peanut butter, etc. The grocers probably thought I was preparing for the apocalypse.

I really like my situation now and am really looking forward to the winter.  I’ll be putting some snow tires on my car and drive out to the mountains to ski whenever I get the chance.  I just really want the weather to get cold now.  In that regard I think I differ from my parents, who always enjoyed the warm weather of southeast United States and India.

I’ve lately been on a BIG Queen binge since Freddie Mercury’s birthday was this past week and an asteroid was named in his honor as well.  Freddie would have been 70 years old.  It’s also really hard to believe that come November it will have been 25 years since he passed away from AIDS.  A solemn reminder that all of us are aging and doing the best we can with the life we have.

I was only 6 years old when Queen did their last tour and subsequently only 11 years old when Freddie Mercury passed away.  Needless to say, I didn’t have a chance to see Queen live, but I don’t feel bad about it, since there really wasn’t a way for a kid like me growing up in southeast Georgia to have a chance to attend a Queen show.  At the time my main preoccupation were Gobots and Transformers.

I’ve watched almost every Freddie Mercury documentary and Queen video I can find online these past few days.  I never saw Queen live or even listened to their music while they were touring, but it is amazing how one man can reach so many people and inspire them in some way.  When you listen to a song like Innuendo, it’s hard to believe that Freddie Mercury was breathing his final breaths while singing so powerfully on what would be his final album while alive.  It is inspiring that he kept recording passionate music until the day he left this world.

It might sound silly to say this about someone I never really met, but I really love Freddie Mercury and am grateful that he was able to touch so many people’s lives even after his death.  On one documentary I was watching,  his mother and sister were describing his generosity as a kid and the unfortunate experience of watching him slowly die.  It’s always a tragedy when a parent outlives his or her own child, no matter who that person is.  I have to admit, it’s difficult to not get a little emotional when watching friends and family recollect their thoughts of Freddie Mercury’s final years.

On another note, I am glad that many people are experiencing Queen in their own way following Freddie Mercury’s death, and I’m also glad there have been great advances in treatment of HIV and AIDS.  As a doctor, I also want to reiterate that HIV is neither a gay nor straight disease.  The chance of contracting HIV or any other sexually transmitted infection increases with each unprotected sexual encounter or IV drug use with dirty needles.  It’s important that all of us educate ourselves properly about this.

With that said, long live Queen, and may all of us live every day to the fullest like Freddie Mercury did.