Goodbye Colorado

I cannot believe that it has been almost eight years since Micah and I moved to Colorado.  Although the years passed quickly, when I think about all of the friends we made, all we experienced and all we accomplished while living in Colorado, it is amazing we did it all in only eight years!

Micah and I had already been 'dating' for four years before we moved to Colorado at the age of 20.  We had decided we were unhappy at our respective schools and we did not enjoy being in a long distance relationship, so we both applied to University of Colorado at Boulder.  Micah had actually considered CU when he was looking at schools in high school, but I never dreamed I would go somewhere so far from home. Although we were simply changing colleges, we both knew Colorado was a 'permanent' move for us.

Here we are in our first week in Colorado...

Since moving to Colorado on January 1, 2003 I have had SIX different jobs (coffee barista, nanny, teller, accounting intern, auditor and accountant III / accounting manager).  Granted I did have two jobs at once for awhile to make ends meet, but that is a lot of jobs for one person to have in less than eight years!  During that same time Micah has worked at several jobs as well, although I'm not even sure how to count them since he worked for the same employers several times (IT job at CU, Micro Motion intern, Lockheed Martin intern (twice), Sandia National Labs intern (twice), teacher's assistant at CU and research assistant at CU).  We were both so fortunate to always have jobs while living in Colorado!

Here I am in my Bank One teller uniform :)

While in Colorado we have done so many triathlons, marathons and other races we can't even count them all.  Running and biking in Colorado is amazing and some days I regret that we did not get on the trails and roads more often.  We have been extremely fortunate to live in such a beautiful place with so many sunny days.

Here we are at the 2003(?) USAT Collegiate National Championships...

We got married!  After living in Colorado for two years we got engaged and eight months later we got married.  We quickly learned that we were in the minority being married so young in Colorado (I was only 22 and Micah was only 23) so it was a little difficult feeling so out of place for awhile, but over time we met some great married friends (and our single friends started getting married) and we eventually found our place.

Here we are on our wedding day!

We met some amazing people while living in Colorado.  Since we have been through so many changes with school and jobs over the last eight years, some of our friends have already moved away from Colorado, but we cherish each and every one of the friendships that we made.

We got college degrees!  This one is truly exciting as Micah is completing his PhD in Aerospace Engineering as I write this!  He has worked soooooo hard and I am so proud of him!  I can honestly say that neither of us knew he would be in college for TEN YEARS when we started dating 12 years ago (or when we moved to Colorado eight years ago), but I know that he loves what he does!  I also graduated with my bachelors, masters and became a CPA :).

We also joined a church, bought and sold our first house, got a cat, went on a few vacations (although we did go back to MI most of the time) and became an aunt and uncle!  Our time in Colorado has been amazing and we are definitely sad to leave, but we will always have great memories.  Luckily, Albuquerque is only seven hours from Denver by car, so we will be back to visit often!

Here we are this past summer at the same lookout we were at in our first pic at the top of this post (I know it doesn't look the same - I was surprised to see they changed the railing from wood to metal!)...

And we know God has a plan for us in Albuquerque, as everything has fallen into place so far, and we are very excited to see what what happens in the next seventy or so years ;).

Home

For the past two years I have worked at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.  Part of the organization's mission is to provide housing to homeless and low-income families.

Last week, we finalized the sale of our house and, since we aren't actually moving to Albuquerque until mid-October, Micah and I are suddenly "homeless."

Whenever I go to Holland, MI to visit family and friends, people ask, "When are you going home?"  I always thought this was an odd question as I thought of Colorado as my home since we lived there for almost 8 years. 

For some, "home" is easy to define since they have lived in the same house for many years, or at least have lived in the same city for most of their lives.  For others, "home" is more abstract.  Now that we are in-between our life in Colorado and our life in Albuquerque, though, I am suddenly having trouble defining "home."  

After giving it some thought I have realized that I actually define "home" as the place one lived as a child.  Even those that we call "homeless" probably refer to someplace as "home."  In reality, some people are "houseless" but no one is really "homeless."  

Some day, Micah and I might think of Albuquerque as "home," but for now Holland, MI is what we call "home." 

Beginning Anew

A year ago, when my friend Katie and I were training for our marathon, we discussed things we read on our friends' blogs and say we couldn't imagine having a blog....what would we write about?!?  Little did I know that one year later I would be finishing up my last week at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, looking forward to a relaxing two week trip to Holland, MI where I could rest while I was "unemployed," getting ready for an exciting trip to India with Micah, Katie and Ryan, AND anxiously awaiting the completion of Micah's PhD and our impending move to Albuquerque.

I have to admit that Albuquerque, New Mexico (nicknamed "ABQ" since the name is so darn long!) is one of the last places I ever imagined myself living.  The two reactions we get when we say we are moving to ABQ are 1) I love Santa Fe! or 2) Why??  Although Santa Fe is about 45 minutes from ABQ, we will not be spending much time there (I think those people are thinking "why" too, but they are trying to be polite).  The reason why we are moving to ABQ is because Micah has found a position at Sandia National Labs that he describes as a "good fit."  Surprisingly, it seems the higher the education one has the fewer the jobs that would be a "good fit," so the job locations are actually quite limited.  Hey, in my mind ABQ is at least a step above Huntsville, Alabama (no offense Melis :) ).

Some things we are looking forward to with our move to ABQ:
1. Being DINKS (dual income no kids) - we have been waiting 5 years of marriage for this!
2. Warmer winters - although ABQ is technically in the desert, the city does get a little snow in the winter
3. Shorter commutes - I should be able to ride my bike to work in 10 min (instead of 30-45 min in the car!)
4. Learning to love green chili - it is too hot for us right now but we know we'll have to learn to like it :)
5. ABQ sunsets - they are stunning!

I'm sure there are other things we are excited for, but overall I think we are just excited for CHANGE!  Although we are sad to leave our family and friends in CO, the thought of moving to a new place and beginning anew is exhilarating!