Hey Nerds,
Long time no type.
Since we last chatted, my NP4L and I moved from the state of Texas to Colorado. We left the Lone Star State, where everything is bigger, for “Colorful Colorado”.
I must take a moment and give my sister and brother-in-law a MAJOR shout out. They took the time to fly out to DFW, help us pack a truck, move a truck, unload a truck, and then flew back home over the course of 4 days. We couldn’t have done the move without them–at least not for the more affordable cost of $1,200 instead of the $8,000 for movers to load, move, and unload our boxes we had to pack ourselves. Yikes.
Let’s be real–moving sucks
There’s no other way to put this, moving sucks. You are confronted with everything you own and the many rounds of purging to try to make the move more manageable. If you’re anything like us, the truck you rent isn’t large enough for your possessions and you have to make cuts on moving day resulting in either boxes left behind in storage (this move) or stuff stacked next to the dumpster (previous moves). You get paper cuts and cardboard box cuts or cuts from tape guns and box cutters. You get bruised and banged up. Everything hurts and, if you’re lucky, it’s only achy muscles and not injuries.
There’s mental exhaustion and financial stress. It. all. just. sucks.
But there’s always a why
We didn’t decide you uproot our lives and put ourselves through this hell for nothing.
I spent the last week in client meetings in Chicago where colleagues and clients alike have asked the same question, “so why did you move?”
It’s a good question, since I was all in on Fort Worth and TCU. I’ve spent the better part of 7 years building up my place in the TCU Twitterverse. But it all came down to a few key deciding factors:
- After our niece died last September, we decided we wanted do everything we could to be present for our other niece’s senior year in Colorado
- My NP4L decided he should get a job and landed one in Broomfield, CO
- Texas is going through a series of changes politically with which I don’t agree and from which I wanted distance
While my desire for bodily autonomy is pretty damn important, what really matters is family. I mean, see above about my sister and BIL coming to help move. Without it, life can get pretty lonely. The time we’ve already spent with our niece since moving has made it all worth it.
Fun Fact: we moved into a PENTHOUSE apartment with views for days that costs almost 3x my mortgage on the house in Texas. Rent and mortgages are ridiculous things, but we’ve always wanted to try big city living and here we go!
So with that, we are temporary Coloradans doing Colorado things like looking at the mountains and going to Rockies games. We’re walking around Denver like we know what we’re doing, but desperately trying to find things like an affordable grocery store, our new hangouts, and maybe someday friends.
And as I type this sitting in Terminal 5 of ORD waiting for my delayed flight back to DEN, I can’t help but want all of these stupid alarms to stop going off at all of the gates and to just get home to my new home away from home for the next 15 months. Oh yeah, and Go Nuggets.
Cheers,
Head Nerd