Unbelievably we are one week away from our one year anniversary of moving to ABQ. I believe every first year of something new is the most difficult. The first year of elementary school, the first year of middle school (awkward!), the first year of high school, the first year of college, the first year of marriage and the first year of a new job. It just takes time to adjust to change and to figure out how things work and where you fit in. Although this year has definitely had its rough patches, when I compare our first year in ABQ to other first years overall it has gone pretty well.
Our biggest regret when we moved from Colorado was that we were too busy (and broke) and we didn't get to enjoy the mountains as much as we had thought we would. Now that Micah has more free time since he isn't bogged down by his PhD work (and we have dual incomes), almost every weekend for the past 50 weeks we have been doing something fun. We were actually doing activities so often that I have had to tell Micah to go without me because I can't keep up! For the most part climbing has taken up most of our time and many weekends we traveled to places in New Mexico and Colorado to get to great climbing. Initially I thought our gas budget could be less than it was in Colorado since we aren't commuting as far to our jobs, but when you go on a road trip almost every weekend you spend A LOT on gas. But it's totally worth it to enjoy the great outdoors.
We have had a surprising number of friends and family visit us over the past year. We didn't think many people would want to visit ABQ since it isn't up to par with Colorado, but we were wrong. Jasmine was the first person to visit on her way from CA to CO in October, Micah's parents came for Thanksgiving, my brother Kent came in January, Katie and Ryan came in February, Amy, Travis and Wyatt came in February, Micah's parents came in April, my parents came in April, Micah's dad came in June, Megan and Ben came in July, Micah's mom came in August, Kent is on a plane right now for his second trip to ABQ and Katie is coming again in a couple of weeks for her second trip here. There are still a few people who should make a trip down here soon (Micah's sister Becca and her family, my older brother Kyle and his family, Paige and Andy, Melissa, Landan, Alex and Janelle, Rachel, Lyndsey, Joy) :). But we understand and luckily we have been able to see almost all of you in the last year :).
One of our biggest fears when we moved here was how difficult it would be to make new friends. Friendships take time to develop and it's hard to find people who have similar interests. But we were fortunate to have met the Turner family: Dan and Val and their two kids Auggie and Eland. Micah works with Dan and last December he and his wife Val invited us over for the evening. We quickly found that we all enjoyed climbing, and the friendship developed from there. Although Micah and I took our time finding a church, we are now going to the same church as the Turner's as well (we wanted to be sure we weren't going there just because we knew the Turner's already). We have spent many weekends climbing with the Turner family (and many hours talking on the car rides to and from the climbing areas), which has helped our friendship develop quickly. We live about a mile apart which is very convenient as we are able to help each other out with random things since none of us have family close by (Val has watched our cat for us many times when we have gone on trips, we have watered their plants, we have brought each other to the airport, etc). Micah and Dan have gone climbing and mountain biking together and Val and I have spent many hours just talking. And their kids are great! Knowing the Turner's has made our move to ABQ so much better!
The church we have found has also helped our adjustment. We have been going to a Community Group where we have met some great people and we look forward to what God has in store there. We are so much more involved with this church than we ever were with our church in Boulder, which is exciting. It helps that it is so much smaller which forces involvement, and since the pastors know us by name they realize if we don't show up on Sunday :).
Some days we really miss Colorado (I especially miss my job at CCH!), but we have learned that ABQ has great things to offer as well. And, although this has nothing to do with ABQ, last weekend we bought a new car which is possible due to dual incomes during the last year.
It seems we are here for the long haul, and we are excited to see what our second year will bring. Hopefully things will get easier as friendships grow and we become more established in our jobs, but every year does bring change no matter where you are.
Our biggest regret when we moved from Colorado was that we were too busy (and broke) and we didn't get to enjoy the mountains as much as we had thought we would. Now that Micah has more free time since he isn't bogged down by his PhD work (and we have dual incomes), almost every weekend for the past 50 weeks we have been doing something fun. We were actually doing activities so often that I have had to tell Micah to go without me because I can't keep up! For the most part climbing has taken up most of our time and many weekends we traveled to places in New Mexico and Colorado to get to great climbing. Initially I thought our gas budget could be less than it was in Colorado since we aren't commuting as far to our jobs, but when you go on a road trip almost every weekend you spend A LOT on gas. But it's totally worth it to enjoy the great outdoors.
We have had a surprising number of friends and family visit us over the past year. We didn't think many people would want to visit ABQ since it isn't up to par with Colorado, but we were wrong. Jasmine was the first person to visit on her way from CA to CO in October, Micah's parents came for Thanksgiving, my brother Kent came in January, Katie and Ryan came in February, Amy, Travis and Wyatt came in February, Micah's parents came in April, my parents came in April, Micah's dad came in June, Megan and Ben came in July, Micah's mom came in August, Kent is on a plane right now for his second trip to ABQ and Katie is coming again in a couple of weeks for her second trip here. There are still a few people who should make a trip down here soon (Micah's sister Becca and her family, my older brother Kyle and his family, Paige and Andy, Melissa, Landan, Alex and Janelle, Rachel, Lyndsey, Joy) :). But we understand and luckily we have been able to see almost all of you in the last year :).
Some days we really miss Colorado (I especially miss my job at CCH!), but we have learned that ABQ has great things to offer as well. And, although this has nothing to do with ABQ, last weekend we bought a new car which is possible due to dual incomes during the last year.
