Well thank GOD that is done.

We've moved!! Finally, after what seems like months and months of preparing to sell the house, selling the house and then the exhaustive search for a new residence, we've finally up and moved. Exhaling now...

What a long, grouchy and exhausting couple of months it has been! After three days of moving and shlepping stuff from old house to new house, we are finally moved in! Our new house is about 15-20 minutes north of our old house. We are now closer to Boulder, closer to work, closer to trails, etc. Our new neighborhood is beautiful--lots of rolling hills, community parks, pools and activities. We are quite literally across the street from Liam's new elementary school, the pool and the tennis courts. Our new neighbors welcomed us with homemade cookies, toffee, bread, marmalade and even some wine. The other night I took Liam to his summer day-camp orientation and when I came out I ran into my former running coach and her group. She gave me a big hug and said she can't wait to start running together again. It feels like home already (minus the 500 boxes and other disarray strewn about the place).

Thus far, the boys have adapted fairly well. The first day/night Sawyer was a bit overwhelmed. Our new house is nearly double the size of our old one. He told Grandma Karen, "How are we gonna find our way out?!!!" Every five minutes he calls out to me and has to make sure he knows where I am, which is making for some looooooong nights. I anticipated he would be extra needy right now. It is a lot of change for a little person. He starts his new preschool tomorrow so I anticipate it will get worse before it gets better. He loved his old school and teachers. They loved him back. They bought him a going away present and they literally cried when we said goodbye. :-( They were wonderful there. I hope his new school falls in love with him as much as his old one, and vice versa.

Liam's last day of 1st grade is tomorrow. Again, another goodbye to another wonderful school and amazing teachers. Mrs. Douglas was terrific. She told us a few weeks ago, "His new teacher is going to LOVE him! He is such an eager, intelligent learner and a great kid. I am going to miss him." She also called him a Brainiac when we asked her if she had taught the kids multiplication and she said "nooooooo...". It turns out he taught it to himself. He IS a brainiac and she was right...his new teacher is going to love him. At least I hope he/she does. How could you not?

There is still lots to do at the new house, but we are so very happy to be here. I know once we get unpacked and the boys get firmly settled into their new routines, we are going to love living here. We already do. :-)

The End?

On September 11, 2001 I was living and working just outside Washington D.C. I was on my way to work when the radio announcer broke into the programming to announce a plane had just hit the Trade Center in NYC. Bill, my first husband, was already downtown at work in the Department of Labor building. I worked not too terribly far from the F.A.A building on the Virginia side of the border. After the plane hit the Pentagon (literally only a minute before Bill had went up on the roof to have a cigarette) the following hours were filled with confusion, sketchy and erratic cell phone service and just general fear and misinformation (Had the Capitol been hit? Had the F.A.A. building been bombed? Were there more planes on their way? Did my best friend's husband get out of the Pentagon before it hit??) We finally made our way home, numb, dazed and hollow on the insides. It was the end of innocence for an entire nation.


Nearly eleven years later, the mastermind behind the terror is dead and the country is celebrating. I just cannot go there. Even though he was a horrible man-a murderer-the vilest of the vile...I cannot celebrate the death of a person. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think we should be relieved he is gone (although my gut tells me this is merely the beginning of worse things to come) but I don't think we should be celebrating like we won the World Cup.  


I will leave with this (because I don't think it can be better said):


‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr