so, I live here now
So, I live here now.
My body is still on east coast time and probably will be for a while. I wake up in the dark and get tired at 3pm, plus I've caught a cold - surprise - after the events of the past week, so I'm sleeping twice as much as normal anyway. My car is here, which is weird, because it's here because we drove it here, and I still kind of can't believe that we drove it here. If that makes any sense at all, which I know it does not.
We made it through Kansas and into Colorado, unloaded the U-Haul into my storage unit and here I am, sitting on my friend's couch with my laptop after my first day of work. My friends have all boarded planes back east, but I am so happy they made the drive out with me. Friends like this are good for my soul.
I started work, which I've only done in the office for one day but I already adore it, the people are fantastic and the culture is exactly what I was looking for. My to-do list is miles long and I'm adding to it far more quickly than I'm crossing things off, but it will all get done. Eventually. In the meantime, I'm scoping out where everything is, starting with the most important.
I know I haven't talked swim bike run in a while. Mostly because all I've been doing is run. I've had some minor shoe drama lately, mostly a pair of slightly pissed off shins due to some late-stage ankle pronation that I seem to have developed. I think it's possibly due to the fact that I haven't done any strength training in a really REALLY long time, but it's so far at the bottom of the list of things I have to deal with out right now that I don't even notice. I'm trying out a couple of new pairs and hoping to settle into a pair that I love before marathon - oh yes, I did say marathon - training starts to ramp up next month.
But in general, my training is taking a major backseat to everything else in life right now. This town is crawling with cyclists, which is starting to stir up the embers of my desire to get back on the bike. I haven't found a local pool or gym yet, but I did go out Friday morning before work with a twitter-friend-turned-new-coworker for a short run to shake off the cobwebs of driving. I'm experiencing a bit of culture shock, magnified when the short jog we do near the office takes us within six inches of a herd of cows roaming around, and people point out coyotes and talk about mountain lions. I've never really considered myself a city girl, but I can see that turning into a country girl is going to take some work.
I miss my family. I knew I would, and I'm trying to not turn into a whiner because it's not even for all that long, but I miss them. A lot. FaceTime helps, pictures help, emails and texts help, but I can't wait until I can walk in the door after work to a pile of barking puppy again. Our house was on the market for FAR less time than we anticipated before we got an offer (5 days), countered, and accepted a contract. It all means that our move out here can be complete and permanent very soon, and that time can't pass quickly enough for me.
I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday looking at houses here, and I say with no small amount of disbelief that I think I've found one that is a perfect fit for us. Our dream house, the Colorado version of the puppy cupcake poetry palace, the place where my hoodies can grow old. It's going to take a few more days of letting all the banks talk to each other and still needs quite a bit of luck, but if everything works out, my entire family will be here and in our new house by the end of the year. That sounds like a ridiculous fairytale. I can't believe how much my life - our lives - have changed over the past three weeks, and it's not over yet. But in my quest to remain in the present, I am trying to not fret about all the things I can't control.
Walking out the door every day and driving around against the backdrop of a postcard helps. Knowing that I will only be in this crazy limbo for a month or two makes it easier to just breathe and let things unroll. I think I am discovering that I need a lot less to be happy. My husband, my puppies, my family, my friends, all of these are important pieces of my life. And the rest can just fall away.