Back
in mid-September my wife and I and our little daughter Neyla made the journey
to Colorado. We have lived in
Copper Mountain, CO now for about 3 months and tonight is our last night here. Our time in the mountains has been
peaceful, relaxing and refreshing and it has been a time that we will never
forget.
In
September we found our love of the mountains. We came right at the time when the Aspen trees were a bright
gold and juxtaposed to the pine trees and the rocky mountains made for a truly
majestic landscape. Each day when
Janae was finished working, usually around 3 pm or so, we went for a family
hike. I would put Neyla in the
Bjorn and we would hike around Copper or we would go to our favorite hiking
spot, Breckenridge. There were
some stunningly breath-taking hikes in Breckenridge and we would make the 15-minute
drive as often as we could. Neyla
loves the outdoors, especially hiking.
Either she’ll catch up on some much needed sleep or she stares at nature
awingly singing. I kid you not, it’s
really quite adorable. The winds
were calm and the skies were clear for seemingly the entire month of September
and we sure took advantage. During
our first few weeks here I was also trying to sharpen my golf game since I had
qualified for the Colorado Mid-Amateur.
I would hit balls and putt at the Breckenridge driving range, while
Janae and Neyla would play on the ground or walk around the beautiful golf
course. Our first month living in
Colorado was splendid and culminated with me finishing tied for 3rd
in my first golf tournament ever in Colorado. 
October
came so quickly and those beautiful Aspen trees quickly lost their golden
leaves. I hung up the golf clubs
for the year and we were preparing to ski come November. But October at Copper Mountain is a
strange time. Nobody lives here
and no shops or restaurants are open.
We felt like we were the only people here, and we may very well have
been. The beauty of this was that
we had the whole place to ourselves; it felt more like Rusin Mountain than
Copper Mountain. We hiked anytime
we could and since the weather was so fantastic that meant we hiked virtually
everyday. We discovered new hikes
and blazed the Colorado Trail as often as we could since it runs right through
Copper. It was a beautiful month
where the three of us spent almost every minute of everyday together and it was
perfect. October ended with
Neyla’s first Halloween and her being carried around her cousins’ Broomfield
neighborhood in her kitty cat costume.
November
came and as it did my parents showed up in Colorado for a visit. Janae and I were under no illusions;
they were clearly here to see Neyla.
;-) Their visit coincided
with opening weekend of ski season at Copper and although it was warm and sunny
they had found someway to make enough snow to open several runs. My parents loved hanging out with
Neyla, so Janae and I got to spend some quality time on the slopes and at the
pub together. Their visit ended
with a day in Boulder and a brilliant weather day it was. We got to walk around and shop on Pearl
St. and had a nice lunch with Janae’s family joining us as well. The day after my parents left was Election
Day and I am happy to say I finally had the privilege to vote in a swing state! Shortly after Election Day, I found a
job opening on Craigslist for an 8th grade-teaching job in the
Marshall Islands. It was November
9 and Janae and I got our hopes up for relocating once again but this time to
the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
To make a long story short, I got the job and we are moving right after
Christmas. (For more info, see my
“If you want to make God laugh” post).
Thanksgiving was down in Broomfield at Janae’s parents house and by that
time I had gotten the offer for my new job in Majuro and planning had begun to
move half way around the world.
November was a life-changing month to say the least. 
By
the time December snuck up on us we were deep into the planning stages for
moving to Majuro, Marshall Islands.
We had sent several packages, booked our flights and bought plenty of
sunscreen. I had been spending any
free time I could preparing to teach in January (or blogging) and was getting
more excited by the moment. The second weekend of December will always be a
memorable one. It was when two of
our great friends came to visit, Susie and Landon. It was a special weekend, but it was extraordinarily cold! For all the great weather we’d seen in our
brief stint in Colorado, this weekend made up for it. The one silver lining was the beauty of the snow, but when
you ventured outside it was freezing and windy adding up to below zero wind
chills almost the entire weekend.
Despite the blast of frigid cold, it was a fantastic weekend. Susie and Landon are great people and
anyone would be blessed to have them as friends. This weekend was also the 40th anniversary of
Copper Mountain, so on Saturday afternoon there was a Neil Diamond cover band
and 72 cent beers. Many good
conversations were had in the hot tub, but none quite as good as the final
afternoon where Landon and I debated the meaning of Freedom. I think he’s still frustrated with me
over that conversation, and despite some semantic disagreements between us, we
both became smarter people and better friends.
That
brings us to today, December 15, 2012, our last night living at Copper
Mountain. It is again just the 3
of us and we have been reflecting on our time here. We will miss Copper, Colorado and all of our friends and
family in Chicago, but we are so excited to begin our new life in Majuro. In just two short weeks from now we
will be settling in to a new country, culture and life and we couldn’t be more
excited. We have loved our time in
Colorado and who knows, maybe we’ll live here again after Majuro, but for now,
so long Colorado.
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