Good Morning -So, there must be some powerful animals at work here, or it's just that it's time, or it feels fast but really it's been building for a long, long time, but "suddenly" we're moving. To Denver. In a few weeks. Holy Crap.
My partner flew up yesterday for a second interview for a position, and got offered the job in the afternoon. She called me around 4 to tell me and I think we were both in shock. It's not that I was surprised she got the position - she's wildly qualified and they're blessed to have her - it's that this has been a theory for months and now, "suddenly", we shift to praxis.
Here's where I confess that this has been a theory for many, many, many months. Here's where I tell you that the whole reason I started the Virgen tiles and this subsequent blog was as a way for me to survive our last year in AZ - a way to be present with being here while also marking the transition year.
We had decided this past spring that we no longer wanted to be in Tucson and were ready to move to Colorado by the following May. We had decided that we would work this last school year, start looking for jobs in January, have one secured to start in August, put all of our stuff in storage in May, and then, on May 22 (the day before my partner's birthday - she didn't want to spend another birthday in AZ - watch what you wish for...), head out in my partner's car for the West Coast.
Our intent was to spend May, June, July, and part of August camping up the west coast, across British Columbia, down through Montana and Wyoming, and into Colorado. We would find ourselves a place to live when we landed in Colorado in early August, then drive back down to Tucson, get our stuff out of storage, move it up, and be ready to start the jobs we had secured in the spring for the start of the fall semester.
I would mark the time between with the tiles - starting on May 22nd of this year and going through May 21st of next year - the eve of our big adventure.
That was our best laid plan.
And then, like most best laid plans, it went all to hell (in the best way).
About a month into the Virgen tiles - so like, end of June - my partner saw a posting for a great position at a university in Denver. It's similar to what she does now, and those positions are rare, so she knew she had to go for it - even though it would move up the time-line and nix the camping.
She applied, waited, got a phone interview, waited, got flown up for a second interview, waited, and then - through reasons that have nothing to do with her ability and everything to do with nepotism - she didn't get the position.
But now we were in Go mode. Once she got her second interview, I figured I better get going and find myself a j-o-b too. By the time she was being passed over (kind of like how the Angel of Death passes over the lucky, turns out) I was in process with a position. We had started to pack boxes as a positive intentioning while waiting to hear about her position.
We had one foot here, one foot there, and were starting to get a cramp in our adductor muscles.
On the same day she was passed over, she heard about the position she just accepted. Tears still on her lashes from the unjust turn of events with the first gig, she re-ignited the hope and optimism in her heart, contacted the person she knew at this place and inquired about the position.
That inquiry led to an emailing of her resume, a phone interview, some more phone interviews, the in-person interview she had yesterday, and the acceptance of this most fantastic position.
And, so, here we are. She is in Denver through Saturday and hopes to spend her last day there looking at some houses we've seen for rent and (possibly) securing one.
We both gave official notice yesterday, which means that I end on October 2nd, she ends of October 3rd (I'm doing a social worker presentation that day, so was going to be off anyway), and she starts her new position on October 13th.
Somewhere between October 3rd and October 13th, we will load a truck with our wordly possessions (and the cats - all of the cats - all five of the cats - oh, lord) and head mostly north with a little east for just under 900 miles until we land at our new place which will be somewhere in Denver.
Between now and October 2nd, in addition to wrapping up work, I'll be interviewing on the phone for a position on the 16th, and interviewing in person for two positions on the 18th.
We've placed an ad to try to get someone to rent our place. We've got lots of boxes. We've got plans to get rid of some stuff. We're going.
On either side of the shock feeling is the excitement about the new adventure and the sadness for the leaving of friends.
Oh - so, the tile (which now, they will be marking our time in CO, our settling in time, our totally different time). This is an image from two years ago (almost exactly) when I went up to Pagosa Springs for Labor Day with my friend-now-partner and her partner at the time. It was the first time I had been back to Colorado in a few years and I was so in love with the weather and the large chunks of granite and the water and the trees.
The picture is from Wolf Creek Pass.
So, two years ago September I returned to visit Colorado and renewed my love for her, but didn't think I could live there because of family complications.
A year ago September, my partner and I drove up (so, yes, in that time, she ended with her previous partner and we moved from friends to more) to spend a long week in Colorado, seeing the sites and visiting with family. That trip put Colorado back on the choice list for me. Relations with family weren't (aren't) perfect, but they weren't so overpowering anymore that I felt that I couldn't live in the state that I love. My partner also fell in love with the state, but that's her story to tell.
Now, this September, we finalize moving to Colorado.
I wonder what next September will bring?
Here's to wondering. Here's to knowing. Here's to moving forward.
Oh - to demonstrate how shocked I am, this is the tile I took a picture of this morning. Do you notice anything? Like the absence of the Virgen? It wasn't until I was looking at it through my viewfinder this morning that I realized I never attached the Virgen to this image of me on Wolf Creek Pass. The tile you see at the top is after I came back inside, shook my head at myself, and added the Virgen.
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