Colorado Reflections

       

            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 3^rd 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 8^th 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 40^th 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.  

Colorado livin'...

As many of you may know, my wife, daughter and I recently moved to Copper Mountain, Colorado and that move was rather spontaneous.  We thought that someday we’d move out here, but never imagined it would be so soon and that we’d leave our beloved Chicago.  We hoped this would be a great place to raise our daughter with all of the outdoor activities and the more laid back culture.  So far, we absolutely love it.  The natural beauty of the mountains is breath taking.  The ability to get lost in nature either on a hike or while skiing is ever prevalent and it is a change we adore.  The people are incredibly warm and welcoming, where every time that I go running people I don’t even know wave and smile at me.  I know that’s a rather small gesture, but it’s a nice one.  We may still be in the honeymoon stage and who knows what the future will bring, but for now, our move to Colorado has been a positive change

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A few weeks ago the three of us went on a hike from Breckenridge and it was truly majestic.  When we hike with Neyla, we strap her onto my by using a Bjorn and she loves it.  Usually she’ll sleep, but when she doesn’t she sings.  It’s really hilarious; she will just stare at the nature around us and starting inaudibly singing.  She loves being outside as do my wife and I.  On this particular hike all three of us were truly mesmerized by the nature and solitude around us.  I had never experienced anything like it and it made me understand the 19^th Century Romantics much better.  It reminded me of a quote I saw here not too long ago, “I’d rather be outdoors thinking about God in creation, than in a building locked away from it.”  It’s so true, the miraculous nature of the mountains truly does inspire one to think about God and the world in different ways. 

We have this image of Neyla growing up hiking, horseback riding, golfing and skiing; and not playing video games and texting her life away.  We hope she is as inspired by the creation around us as we are.  This may be really naive, only time will tell, but we feel it will be much easier to balance technology in our lives living here with this sort of culture.  

Yesterday Colorado voted to legalize marijuana in our state.  Many people would argue and have argued that this has made Colorado a worse place to raise children.  I disagree.  I don’t smoke marijuana, never have and probably never will, but this shows the progressive nature of our state.  It makes an amazing amount of political and economic sense to do this.  The amount of money our state wastes on arresting and prosecuting people who smoke a plant that is less harmful and dangerous than alcohol and tobacco makes no sense.  Furthermore, the black market for this drug has empowered terrorists all over the globe and allowed drug cartels in Mexico to wreak havoc south of the border and in many border states.  In no way do I support the legalization of other illegal drugs, but it is finally time that we rethink our broken policy on drugs in America and the consequences of those policies. 

I know that raising a child is never easy and there will continually be challenges, but we love this challenge so much and we love Neyla.  We made a difficult decision to move to Colorado, but we believe that this opportunity came up for a reason and we can’t wait to find out what it is.