My life in Denver: a year in review

It’s been a year now since I’ve moved to Denver and left the comforts of Minnesota. 

So of course I sat down to reflect on what I’ve done, what I’ve learned, and how I feel. 

 

First, the reason I moved out here. Jack and I have been together two and a half years at this point, with hopefully many more to come. When we met, we were only dating a handful of months before he moved out to Denver, back to his stomping grounds where he grew up. We then spent a year long distance, learning to communicate and express ourselves while enjoying the few stolen days we got together each month.  

 

Once I graduated, I followed him out here, dragging my family across the country to help move me in. That was a year ago, and things have been overall great. Jack and I continue to communicate well and enjoy our relationship as we navigate living together in our shared apartment. 

 

I moved to Denver with only my possessions, a love, and my job at the Pioneer (which Eli thankfully let me keep as I moved far from the coverage of Waseca). Now, I’d like to think I have that and more. 

 

For one, I finally have friends. Some through volleyball and some through bookclub, although we haven’t reached the point of hanging out consistently, but we’ll get there. I stay active by going to the gym, playing volleyball twice a week, and then taking walks through the neighborhood, guessing the outrageous prices of the houses and dreaming of the day we’ll own a house. 

 

I’ve done so many fun things I probably wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t moved to Colorado. Hiking a 14er, traveling to new and fun places, fostering dogs, getting a job at the Colorado Parent Magazine. 

 

And then there are the things that I’ve been able to do through my job at the magazine. Have free dinners at restaurants, spend a weekend at a resort, plan a weekend in a mountain town, meet caring parents and learn about organizations in the community working to support parents and families. 

 

I’ve learned a great deal about what it takes to be a parent; with every conversation, I’m in awe of what parents go through. Like last weekend, when I manned a booth for the magazine at the 10th annual Colorado Breastival, a festival for breastfeeding. Basically, it was a way to get resources about breastfeeding, infant and mama health, and more to families. While my booth was obviously not the popular choice (most people only stopped by because I put out suckers), I learned that parents still need a lot of help and support, no matter what stage their child is in. They mostly told me about needing to find things to do with their kids because the Colorado Parent provides a calendar with those events listed, but I watched as moms and parents who had spoken with me for only a few minutes stopped by other booths for long periods of time to gain helpful information. 

 

Getting back to the point though, is that I’ve been in Denver a year, and I’ve learned a lot about myself, the community, and the lives around me. I’ve also learned how to be an adult—buying car insurance, preparing my own taxes, finding new doctor and dentist offices and scheduling appointments with them. It’s been fun to feel adventurous, despite the lonelier days. It’s adding to the lore of my life, so I can one day tell my family how I once lived in Denver when I was young. 

 

My Determination: “Happy. Not giddy or overjoyed, but that low, steady level of happiness that, in the best periods of life, rides underneath everything else, a buffer between you and the world you are walking over.” ― Emily Henry, Beach Read