A Decade of Colorado

Ten years ago today we led a little caravan of cars up to a house on a cul-de-sac in Castle Pines and started a new adventure. We’d only been married for (almost) four months when we packed up the few things we owned and relocated to Colorado. Stephen’s parents were headed to Tennessee with Mike’s job, leaving a beautiful home vacant in Colorado – which they opened up to their (at the time) only married son and his new wife. In the spirit of the old adage “where you go I will go,” I left the home I’d lived in longest and followed my husband back to his home state.

Here we still are, a decade later, having made Colorado home.

If you would have asked me growing up if I would ever live far away from my family, I would have said “no.”

If you would have asked me if I’d ever live in Colorado specifically prior to starting to date a gorgeous man from there, I would have said “why?”

Yet here I am, ten years into living in the Centennial State, with no sign of leaving in the foreseeable future. Life’s weird, am I right?

In the last ten years:

• Fourteeners hiked: zero
• Times I have been skiing/snowboarding: zero
• Craft beers that I have enjoyed: zero

I’m killing the acclimation process, no? But, in some level of fairness to myself, I have been to at least one game for each of the major sports teams (Rockies, Avs, Nuggets, Broncos). I have gone on hikes. I’ve been to a concert at Red Rocks. I’ve eaten a Palisade peach and enjoyed some fine Colorado whiskey from Stranahan’s.

It’s been a full ten years.

We’ve grown from a family of two to a family of five. FIVE. From newlyweds to seasoned parents of three children.

We bought our first house. We’ve been in our house for about 3.5 years and we’ve lived a lot of life here. Jonathan turned 3 the weekend we moved in, and since then we’ve brought home one little girl from the hospital to this house and one little girl was born in this house. Jonathan started his academic career while we lived in this house, heading off to Kindergarten last year and getting ready to start first grade in a hybrid fashion in a few weeks. We quarantined here during a global pandemic. We’ve learned how to replace a water heater, dishwasher, and garage door opener here. We have demoed a deck, poured a patio and dug out a planter box in the backyard.

We have replaced the cars that we caravanned to Colorado in all those years ago to fit our growing family. Stephen’s Jeep Cherokee and my Corolla have moved on to live the next part of their lives with friends and family. Meanwhile, we’re both in SUVs for hauling three kids in car seats/ a booster.

We’ve developed deep and wonderful friendships. We’ve expanded our family with two new sisters and a niece. We’ve changed jobs and joined groups, whether a fitness community or a Bible study fellowship. We have history here together that ties us to this land.

Where do the next ten years take us? Though one can never be certain, I’d imagine ten years from now we’re in a bigger house. We’ve filled every available bedroom in our current house with children – the girls are sharing a room and all three kids share a bathroom. In ten years when we have a 16 year old boy and two pre-teen girls, we will probably need more space. Is that house in Colorado? As of now, I assume so. I do know that no matter where we go, home for me is Stephen. So if I’m with him in Colorado or I’m with him somewhere else, I’m home.

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