Monday, August 16, 2010

8/16/2010 - One Year Moving Anniversary

Today is August 16, 2010, a year to the day that we officially landed in Boulder, CO and began our new life approximately 1800 miles away from our home in Boston, MA. (for details of the trip, see previous blogs)

So, how has the year been? Well, like most years, it had its share of highlights and lowlights. Highlights first: after moving with no jobs and barely a place to live, within five months my husband found a near-dream job and we moved into a home that we all enjoy. My son was a part of a championship baseball team, had a spectacular year at school, and has a wonderful, fun, supportive group of friends,(which was one of the things we were hoping he would find when we decided to move). My daughter has gotten to continue pursuing her passion for horseback riding (many more places to ride out here), had a phenomenal year in school, and had her first, fantastic experience away from home for two weeks at overnight camp. Both kids have blossomed over the past year, and their daily joy and enthusiasm for life consistently confirms that we made the right decision to come here. Personally, I gratefully turned 40 (see previous blog post), found some very fulfilling work, and I'm making plans for some artistic projects that I hope to complete in the coming year. Keep you posted on those!

Lowlights: there were only a few, but they were doozies. In February I broke my right foot, 2 weeks before moving into our house. It was a long, five-month recovery, and I'm still not 100% healed. The silver lining was that we were blessed by many people who helped us out with driving, meals, some grocery shopping, etc., suprisingly by people whom we barely knew since we were still so new to the area. Another lowlight was that in late Spring, my daughter and I both experienced the devastation of being betrayed by people we trusted. There is nothing worse than opening up your heart to someone, only to have them stomp on it, tear it up, and toss it carelessly into oncoming traffic. We both learned a bitterly painful, but obviously necessary lesson of, when someone shows you her true colors, believe her the first time. Our hearts are healing, but honestly, I'm struggling with the temptation to wrap mine in bubble wrap and keep it locked up and protected from such hurt again. Tough place to be in - and in this case, I'm taking it a day at a time.

But even with the lowlights, overall the year has been absolutely terrific. I seem to have mastered the high-altitude cooking and baking adjustments, we've all gotten into better physical shape, and we feel like we are starting to build a real community around us. The scenery continues to inspire, the mountain climbing, canoeing, and skiing have connected us to nature and the outdoors, and as Fall approaches, the fact that we have apple trees, a peach tree, and a plum tree in our backyard fills us all with much anticipatory excitement!

Do we miss Boston? Well, we certainly miss the friends we left behind, the always incredible trips to downtown and Fenway Park, and we definitely miss the beach. But as we've noted, the mountains are a nice trade for the beach, we got to see our beloved Red Sox play the Rockies out here, and both Boulder and Denver have lots of interesting sights and sounds that we're continuing to explore. With regard to friendships, I'll let Sarah Orne Jewett take the reins on this one, when she said, "Yes'm, old friends is always best, 'less you can catch a new one that's fit to make an old one out of." We look forward to making more of those kinds of new friends - perhaps we've met some of them already.

So what has this past year taught us? If you don't like your situation, you CAN change it. You owe it to yourself and your family to make each day as happy as it can be. And whatever you do, DON'T TAKE ANY MISTREATMENT FROM ANYONE! You don't deserve it. No one does.

1 comment:

  1. Can't believe you guys have been out there for a year! Sounds like everyone has had a pretty good year. I'm sorry to hear about the betrayal you and your daughter experienced. That's never an easy thing to deal with. Hope your heart continues to heal, and definitely keep us posted on the artistic projects of yours! Much love to all.

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