How we spend most of the summer. Please take extra note of the super attractive knee brace I'm rocking.
Yesterday was my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!) and after talking to her on the phone, J. and I sat down to have breakfast before going on a hike. About two bites into my bacon, J. went quiet and then asked me "is today our one year anniversary of living in Colorado?" (which yes, yes it was.) It's so crazy how time flies. A year ago, J. was getting his doctorate in pharmacy, we were saying goodbye to family and friends, and of course, were a little frazzled trying to get everything moved/shipped/packed etc. before we hit the road bound for Denver. Funny thing was, I don't remember being scared at all. I mean, I think it's always a little unsettling to move to a place you don't really know anyone or anything (we were fortunate in the fact that I had some blogger friends here, J was already friends with his company's Denver recruiter, and one of his classmates and her fiance' were moving out here as well) but for the most part, it was just a leap of faith. We both really believed we were supposed to move somewhere else, do we did.
Of course, that doesn't mean the move wasn't a little difficult. Making friends out of college is incredibly strange (I talked to my girlfriends back in Atlanta all the time about feeling like it was an awkward kind of dating. You know, the whole "what should I wear? When should I call again?" etc.) and it's only that much harder when you work from home. Add that to kind of being lost all of the time and there were definitely a few times I thought I might go crazy. I remember this one day where I was driving around trying to find my way to Melanie's house and thought to myself "I can't wait until the day that I won't rely on my gps for every little thing" when I realized I was going the wrong way on a one way street. A four lane one way street to be more specific. Luckily, I u-turned it before it was a big deal, but I couldn't help but laugh, thinking "where in the world am I?!" It was moments like that where I learned I just had to laugh and let go. Everything would end up working out in the end.
And it did. Amazingly, everything just seemed to fall into place. So many milestones have happened this past year (biggest=we bought a house!) but it's the little things that stick out so much to me. Cookouts with new friends, ski weekends with old friends, afternoons spent skiing or hiking, introducing our new city to our families, cheering on our college football team at Denver UGA Alumni events, garage sales that become more like parties than a way to get rid of junk, camping under the stars, concerts at Red Rocks, dinner conversations that linger long after dessert is served, book clubs, mid week lunches that turn into 4 hour gab sessions-hell, even doing yard work in our very first yard- it's all of those little things that make this city our home.
And even though we both wish we were a little closer to our family and friends over on the east coast, we really wouldn't change a thing. (I'm so excited to see what else is in store.)