It's real.
It's really happening: last night, I booked a one-way ticket to Portland for Friday, November 17th. Which, as it turns out, is exactly one month from today. I'm finding it all more than a little surreal - just two years ago, I visited Portland for the first time and fell in love. The city literally took my breath away - and I remember turning to my colleagues and telling them, "in my next life, I'm going to live here."
My next life begins in one month.
This will mark my second move and my third state in just 11 months. I look back on this past year in complete amazement. By the time the year is up, I'll have lived so many different lives and played so many different roles: wife, divorcee, prodigal daughter, ex-wife, single girl, city girl... It has, without a doubt, been the most eventful year of my 27 - and, in many ways, the best year of all of them. Please forgive the cliche, but I've truly never been happier.
I'm grateful to the love and support of my family, my wonderful mother and father and sister and extended family who show me their unconditional love and encourage me to constantly reach farther and to trust myself more. I'm grateful to my friends, who didn't object when I said I was leaving Colorado but supported me and wished me luck - and let me visit and crash their homes and their lives when I was missing them too much to continue. And who came to visit me, too, for a whirlwind weekend in a city I really still don't know very well, and who didn't complain a bit as we searched for downtown parking at 8:00 on a Saturday night.
I've been remiss by not sharing photos with you of these events. Here are some of my favorites: {as usual, clicking on the photo will allow an up-close view}
What a truly beautiful day. The weather was crisp - downright chilly, actually - and the fall colors were just starting to turn. My favorite time in Colorado. Jess and I arrived early enough (us! early! can you fathom it?!) that we had a chance to visit a local museum and learn all about the history of the Stanley Family and their roots in Estes Park; which meant we spent the rest of the day discussing how scary F.O. (which we prounce foe) and F.E. (read: fee) Stanley looked as small children. Seriously, that's what we got out of it. There's a reason we two were not history majors.
After Erin, Jason & Emma arrived, we found ourselves browsing through Christmas stores and a fantastic bookstore where I plopped down on the floor beside Emma and attempted to read as she explored each book within reach. Jess and I happened on several phrases that cracked us up in the local stores... Bitch Creek BBQ sauce and Sexual Chocolate ice cream were two of our faves. Erin & Jason introduced us to their favorite Italian restaurant where we devoured pasta and garlic cheese bread - and, if we weren't already full, we were certainly in the right place for dessert... I'm telling you, Estes Park must have more sweet shops per city block than any other city in the nation! Fudge, taffy, ice cream (too cold!), coffee (including the requisite 'bucks, naturally. Which we visted, naturally.), and even an old-time candy shop where I didn't buy, I swear - but I had to snap some pics. We happened on an art fair, too, after veering to the left to pick up some mittens for little Emma. The contrast of the cold air and still-blooming wildflowers against a backdrop of yellow aspen leaves and snow-covered mountains was pure Colorado. Even made me miss it. (Just a little bit.)
Although I was there for work, the 9-day trip allowed me several free nights to visit with friends... and an invaluable chance to catch up with Erin not once, not twice but three times for coffee and some badly-needed advice. So lucky to have you, Erin. So grateful for the insight you shared.
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I was thrilled when Suzanne called to tell me her company was sending her to San Diego for a meeting. I was thrilled when she called to tell me that, even though the meeting was cancelled, she was coming anyway. And I was beside myself when we heard that Jess could get time off to visit with us, too.
What I didn't realize was how much fun it would be to watch Jessica run around on the beach and kick the waves like a small child discovering the ocean for the first time. Or how in love Suzanne would be with the idea of posing for photos with, of all things, seaweed. I couldn't have guessed how moved Suzanne would be by the crumbling remains of a child's sand castle, made smooth by the tide. We hit the outlets in Viejas and ate sushi and terryaki chicken bowls before the Live concert. We walked around Del Mar, visited the beach at Mission Bay, stopped in Old Town on a whim after Suzanne spotted cheesy $10 plastic guitars she just had to have, and toasted friendship at a downtown martini bar. And, it must be said, we (well, they) spent hours at another downtown bar talking to a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who I now refer to as Boring Guy - but then, I was the only sober one.
But, how could I have guessed that what would make me the happiest was just knowing they were there? Even when I was out filling up the car with gas or picking up lattes for the still-sleeping girls, it was exceptional how comforting it was: just the knowledge that they were there, in the same city. I didn't have to hope they answered the phone - if I wanted to talk to them, I could just turn my head and shout over the crappy music on the radio (or the Buckcherry CD we wore out that weekend). The weather was perfect, we could not have asked for better... but it was the simple knowledge that I had them near, for that short time, that made me feel truly warm.
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And with this, cheesy, nostalgic Sharon is spent. The re-emergence of witty, sarcastic and yes, completely random Sharon, tomorrow.
Stopped by Aveda Friday night because I always, always do this ... I wait until I cannot stand my hair one second longer and then decide I need a cut immediately. Why I can't pre-book, I do not know... lucky for me, one of their stylists was available for a walk in.
The next day, my hair was back to it's curly self at 6:00 a.m., which is the godforsaken hour when my parents and I (and a confused and completely excited dog, Rusty) headed to the Helen Woodward Animal Center's 16th Annual Spooktakular People & Pet Walk. For the past four years, my dad has set up a booth to advertise his business at the event. My mom's been going with him for the past three, and it was at last year's event that my parents fell in love with Rusty and brought him home - so it was an anniversary of sorts for him.
