BrandonRittiman.com

DENVER-- I was on assignment to explain how Colorado is preparing to implement taxes on the legal sale of recreational marijuana when I found my way to a business called "Medicine Man" in Denver. The medical pot company plans to sell the drug for both medical and  recreational use beginning January 1. Andy Williams "We'll be open at 8 a.m.," beamed owner Andy Williams, sounding like any other good salesman plugging deals on a big shopping day. As he continued to tell me that he anticipated a line down the street for the first day of recreational pot sales, I got to thinking of how different it felt to report on marijuana than it did just a couple of years ago.

One year later, and I think it's a good time to allow myself to look back for a reminder of what it was like to cover the tragedy we are all remembering today. I happened to be scheduled on-call the night of the theater shooting. It's a night I'll never forget. I hadn't quite gotten into REM sleep. I answered the phone just a few minutes after the shooting had occurred, but we didn't know what was going on-- only that it sounded bad and that it seemed like every ambulance in the metro area was heading there.