Colorado, Here We Come

From May Madness to the Journey out West

After months of weighing pros and cons, me (Angel) changing my mind at least 5 times per day, and praying for peace regarding what to do next... we finally made a decision! We decided to leave our comfortable life in Lawrence, KS to take on a lifestyle that would allow us flexibility and freedom; as well as the opportunity to live in new cities every 13 weeks.

The month of May seems like it went by in the actual blink of an eye. We are both planners, however, neither of us anticipated how much work would go into moving all of our 2-story townhome into a storage unit and meticulously planning what items to bring along on our *minimalist* new lifestyle. Yes, I still managed to overpack...are you surprised? :) In fact, we had a plan to only take one vehicle to Colorado - we quickly realized that was not going to work (to our moms - why are you always right?!).

We made it through moving, said our goodbyes in Lawrence, and had a quick stay in Marysville before we headed to our new home (thank you Furnished Finder) in Castle Rock, CO. To keep it real, both of us were mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. We felt like we didn't get to give our first home together a proper goodbye. All of a sudden, our time in Lawrence together seemed like it had moved way too fast - the time we spent near family and friends didn't seem like long enough. I left a job that has a special place in my heart; where my coworkers were my friends and mentors. It's a weird feeling to be excited for what's ahead - yet feel heartache for what's being left behind.

Rushes of "will we regret this?" immediately disappeared when we walked into our apartment in Castle Rock. You know how when you see pictures of a hotel or house online you assume that the pictures are showing the space in its best lighting/angles and you prepare for it to not actually be that great? Well, our apartment was the opposite. The pictures online of our apartment were subpar, however, we walked into a never-lived in mother-in-law style apartment that is attached to our landlords home. Not only is it a new build, but our landlords stocked the apartment with more than we could have asked for. We both felt an immediate rush of thankfulness those first few hours getting settled - this was better than we had imagined. The fear and unknown floated away as gratitude and peace swept in.

My first week of work went very well. A huge relief and another answered prayer. My commute is pretty short, although I wouldn't mind it being longer as I am able to see the Rockies most of the drive (this Kansas girl cannot get over the views here!). I am alongside two other SLP's which is pretty rare for a skilled nursing setting. A lot of people ask me what exactly I will be doing for work - I am still a Speech-Language Pathologist and perform my job duties as such, however, my employer is a Traveling Therapy agency. My agency then contracts with facilities nationwide (hospitals, schools, skilled nursing facilities, rehab facilities, etc.) that for some reason are unable to hire a permanent SLP. Each contract is 13 weeks (sometimes a contract will offer an extension to work another 13 weeks at the end of the contract).

While Tyler doesn't have quite the work set-up he had in our townhome, our landlords were so thoughtful to purchase him a desk to work on. He is enjoying being able to see Pike's Peak from our bedroom window during the day (sounds pretty rough, huh?). He has also been spending his lunches hiking Castle Rock with Lucy (is this real life?!).

Grateful is such an understatement. We feel lucky to have a shared interest of traveling and exploring new places. We are so thankful for this season of life together and thankful to God for opening doors for us. We are also so appreciative of our families for lovingly letting us go away from home for now.

With love,

Angel & Tyler

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