Tomorrow/today is moving day. As I sit here surrounded by trash and random stuff I could/should throw out, using the last of my Internet before the Comcast Nazis shut it off at midnight tonight, I am TOTALLY EXCITED but still slightly sad.
I'm use to moving. In the 8 years I lived in San Diego I moved...nine times..nine? Yeah, somewhere around there. For you non-math majors reading, that is more than once every year. (I'm quick with math.) Packing up and leaving is somewhat a norm for me though always a little bittersweet.
When I packed up the ol' Camaro to the brim with a bag of Cheetos by my side, all ready to drive through the Rocky Mountains, I wasn't sure how long until the west coast would ever be home again. Though I was excited for the change, I did not know if I would be in Boulder for 1 year, or 10. I barely knew the city.
When I was driving through the Rockies (SUPER UNDERWHELMING, BTW) I had no idea what was going to be in store. Would I survive school? Would I make friends? Would I find a job? Would Alex find a fireman job? Would we ride horses every weekend through pastures of buffaloes? (The answers to those questions, consecutively are, yes, yes, yes, yes and no.)
I haven't lived in one single dwelling for this amount of time since I moved out of my parents house after high school....some...long time ago. (:::cough::: 11 years :::cough:::) This is where Oliver came home. This is where Stacy slept on the couch for a week while stashing herself under covers because she is terrified of cats. This is where my love of Mad Men began and slowly became a somewhat unhealthy obsession. This is the apartment I clogged up the three flights of stairs everyday for 2 years with weather ranging from sweating my face off to freezing my nose hairs off, to wind that turned my hair into white girl version of the Bride of Frankenstein.
Did I think Boulder was my forever place? Heck no. I know that everyone has sentimental memories woven within rental walls, but these are mine and they're worth nothing before Comcast clips the end of my era.
I'm pretty sure I've mastered the art of never getting too comfortable in one place. You just never know when you'll have to leave. Some might think that is scary or sad, but I find it awesome. I'm still open to change and moving onto another adventure. I hope I'm still open to change for the rest of my life because I think that's what rounds out a persons character. If I dug my heels in at every opportunity to remain status quo I don't imagine I would be as happy, and I'd miss out on things I never tried.
Take moving to Boulder. It certainly wasn't on my bucket list but I came because of the opportunity for school and it seemed to fit for Alex to be closer to his dad and a bit easier to start out and get some fire fighting experience for him. It isn't my favorite place in the world, though there are days where I text Alex saying, "I'm having a Colorado day." Which basically means, I'm having a good day and I don't hate everyone here. They are the fall days where the wind is just warm enough and not crazy enough but still a little crisp to feel like you're in a movie set in the fall. Or the days when the sun is out after a fat snow storm, and the streets are clear and there isn't ice on the sidewalks. Or as a GIANT snow storm is still happening and having to go to work, the sense of "Holy crap, this is crazy but we aren't dying from it." Or a good day of classes, walking over to the Hill and having a margarita (or two) on the patio of Half Fast Subs with friends, while talking about crazy people from class. Those are a few examples of my "Colorado days."
Contrary to what Alex (and many) may think, I don't have any regrets moving here. It was fun, it was hard, it was sometimes awesome, and sometimes not. But it is another place that has been full of new experiences and new friends that have helped shape who I am. Though Colorado isn't in my rear view mirror, living in Boulder is, and I am more than excited to experience Colorado outside of the "Boulder Bubble."
So until Comcast sets up new Internets at the new lo-cal, I bid Boulder ado.
