via courtney khail
hello everyone! It's been a while hasn't it? I mean, I haven't even written THIS YEAR and it's already July.
It's not that I didn't want to write, or didn't think to write, it's simply life got kind of crazy. The kind of crazy where you write "take shower" on your to do list or it might not happen. (Yes, I write take shower on my to do list. Sometimes, just so I can feel like I accomplished something from my to do list. But that's not what this post is about.)
"What kind of crazy, Courtney?" you might ask (secretly hoping it's not one of those Facebook messages that is purposely vague with absolutely no explanation.)
Have no fear, for I am one of many words. No vague stories here!
You may already know this if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook (if not, what are you waiting for? Let's look at pretty pictures together. Find me @courtneykhail) but in case you only read the blog, here it goes. This past spring we moved from Denver back home to Atlanta!
If you're in a hurry and just wanted the main point, there it is. Things have been super crazy busy because we moved back across the country, bought a house, and have been pretty much consumed with getting life back to normal. If you want to know the whole story though- the whys and hows if you will- then keep reading.
Deciding to leave Colorado was in no way easy. And even after we'd made up our minds, we still kept it under wraps to get used to the idea and make sure it was really what we wanted to do before we actually let people know. I mean, it was a huge decision! We absolutely loved Denver (and Colorado for that matter) and never thought we'd leave. We'd bought a house, had amazing friends, got to be outside all the time (whether it was hiking, biking, skiing etc,) and overall just lived in paradise. Seriously, it was like a mini utopia- right down to the fact that our friends all lived within walking distance of our house! We always joked it was like college life after college.
But even with all of that amazingness, we missed the amazingness that was home. As cliche' as it may sound, we never knew just how much we loved the South until we moved away from it. The people, the rivers and lakes, the food, the music- the overall warmth- it was in our bones and eventually we began to ache for it.
And as difficult as it was to be away from our family and friends at Christmas or Thanksgiving, to be honest that wasn't the hardest part. It was missing birthdays and Father's Day/Mother's Day. Missing Saturday tailgates with our friends at our alma mater and lazy weekend visits with our families. It was jumping in the car and never feeling lost. It was the fact that no matter how much we tried, there just never was enough time to go around. (And any travel that involved a plane was placed on a back burner since seeing family was not only more important, but took most of our vacation time.) So while we were making amazing memories of our own out west, we were missing all of the little things back home that made life so beautiful and special.
Combine that with some pretty major health problems members of our family were experiencing and it was clear. We needed to come home.
So we did! And thanks to some pretty amazing people, we sold our Denver house (in less than 36 hours!*) packed up, drove across the country, found a house, bought said house, and settled right back into our life in Atlanta. (And for those who might be worried that we miss the outdoors, have no fear. We've found plenty of hiking, biking, and kayaking right here! It's just a little more humid. And our mountains are a little older and softer. But it's green! I never really realized just how jungle like Georgia was until moving back from a high plains desert. I'm still amazed by the vegetation.)
I cannot even begin to put into words how grateful and blessed we are that we were able to live in Denver. We made such amazing friends and amazing memories. We were able to see and experience things that you'd never be able to without living there, and because we didn't have a deadline to our stay, we never felt rushed. It was an epic adventure that we would never trade.
But now we get to start a whole new adventure (and I can't wait to see what this one brings!)
*Huge shout out to our friend Amanda Sheppard for that one. If you're in Denver (especially the West Highlands/Highlands area like we were) she's your gal when it comes to real estate.
Oh! And speaking of thanks- another huge thank you to our wonderful best friends who welcomed us with open arms into their home while we searched for one of our own. You may already think "wow, that's really nice!" but let me set the stage a little more for you. Not only did they welcome us, but our black lab as well, bringing the total number of people and animals in the house to 8. 4 adults, 1 9 month old baby girl, 2 bulldogs and one black lab. Our friends are angels I tell you.
