Happy Anniversary...to me! (part deux)

Alright, to sum up...

January 2002 - J and I met.
March 2002 - We said "I love you."
May 2002 - I graduated from college.
June 2002 - J proposed and I accepted.
July 2002 - We moved to Denver, CO in a rented townhouse in Highlands Ranch, CO.
September 2003 - We moved into our new house in Aurora, CO.  I got laid off from my job.
April 2004 - After being gainfully employed again, I interviewed for a job more to my liking and got it 2 days before we left to drive to Arizona to get married.
April 16, 2004 - We got married surrounded by 85 of our closest friends and relatives at Wild Horse Ranch in Tucson, AZ.

I think that is where we left off.  After returning home from our wedding, we both had a few more days off to spare and on the first day we were awake again, we headed to the Dumb Friends League (basically the Humane Society Denver style) and found the pup who was to be our wedding present to ourselves.  When they showed us the picture of her and called her a Rottweiler, we didn't quite believe it.  When she came racing into the room and jumped into my lap, I was sold and she wasn't a Rottweiler, she was Australian Shepard.  She was so lovable and sweet.  I couldn't imagine why the people before us had given her up.  Apparently, she was nipping.  Hello!  She's a puppy!  They tend to do that!  But I thank God that they gave her up.  J had to work the following day, but I wasn't due to start at my new job until the next day, so I spent the whole day with her - and that first night was difficult...she cried all night from her crate!  But we persevered and learned about each other and it all worked out great.

Starting the new job was very nice.  The first person I met was Tia who had recently been married as well.  She was my "cube-mate" and as lovable as they come.  I was reintroduced to the rest of the ladies, as I had previously met them when I interviewed.  The first day at a new job is sometimes like the first day of school...learn the rules, get checked in, yada yada.  And from there, we happily tooted along getting to know our neighbors and co-workers more and learning how to be married now with a dog and a cat.  Everything was going pretty great.

We took our honeymoon later in 2004, as to not use all of our fun up in one fell swoop.  It was a cruise around the Hawaiian islands and it was grand.  The scenery, the nature, the company - oh, did I mention my parents went with us?  I know that sounds weird, but they were in a separate suite and without them we would have never had a honeymoon that grand, or probably at all!  They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and their gift was to take us on our honeymoon.  We had plenty of time apart and plenty of time together.  It was great times!  (Especially, when my naturally thin husband tried to put on the pants he had worn at our rehearsal dinner and the buttons were 2 inches apart!  Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh.  Turns out married life adds weight to your waist!)

We started thinking about kids, but nothing too serious.  Just talking about what we would want to teach them and show them when they were growing up.  Secretly, I was hoping my neighbor across the street (Mary) would babysit for me because she had raised two amazing children and I could totally see her fawning over our little one someday.  But we didn't do anything drastic to get us there.  We just kept going the way we were and loving every second of it...or so I thought.  (Don't get worried!)

At some point, one of my sisters called to tell me she was engaged and there was to be a wedding in April 2005.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world, so the planning on how to get me there as money was tight.  Finally figured out that I would go and J would not.  It was sad, but also exciting to go home and see one of my bestest friends marry the man she had been loving for a LONG time - I was the first one introduced to him when we were freshman in college!  I flew to Tucson for a long weekend and a wedding.  When I left Denver, they were predicting snow.  Arizona sounded better than ever as it was April and 75 degrees outside. 

I had a wonderful weekend with my family and at the wedding.  Sunday morning, J called to tell me the airport had been shut down and the weatherman had been right...a lot of snow!  After calling my airline, we determined that I was stuck in Tucson for at least a couple days.  I called my boss and let her know and there wasn't a whole lot either of us could do.  So I got to spend some more time with my friends and family and finally got my flight booked for Tuesday of the same week.  In that same weekend, my Mom had told me she wanted to talk about her business with me.  At that point, she had been a prominent financial planner in Tucson for over 20 years (now that number is closer to 30!) and was thinking about her future and eventually her retirement.  As she was now looking for someone to pass her clients on to when she retired in the next couple years (again, now looking like 5-10), she wanted to offer the job to me first which was her dream.  After much discussion with her, I told her I had to discuss it with my husband.

I called him and told him and his exact words were, "Stay put!  I'll pack up the house and meet you there!"  Apparently, that last bout of snow was his last straw.  We had both talked extensively about missing our families (which both resided in Arizona) and how vacations were always going to be home.  But this still took me aback a bit.  I loved our house, my job and our new friends in Colorado, however there is nothing like family.  So in the blink of an eye, our lives changed and I took the job.

We decided to wait a bit to put the house on the market and not do anything too quickly.  Well, then the real estate market started to sky rocket in Arizona and tank in Colorado.  So it was time to put the house up for sale.  That was possibly the most fun ever in my life - NOT!  After 2 realtors and countless showings, it finally sold but the kicker was we had to be out in 2 weeks!  Yes folks, 14 days!  Mind you, I had even told my beloved job or boss that I was moving and the packing wasn't even started.  So the minute the deal was solid, I had to tell her.  I not only had to tell her, but the other 5 ladies I worked with and loved dearly!  Thankfully it was a Friday and I heard first thing from the realtor so had all day to get the job done.  I started with the easy people, the ones I knew would cry with me, and worked up to the people that might be mad.  No one was mad, they all cried.  They all understood, but were sad.  I told them I could stay with friends if they needed me after my husband had left, but it all worked out that all the loose ends got tied up. 

The packing began and it was tornado-ish.  My folks flew up to help us once again drive home with an overstuffed truck, two different vehicles, a dog and a cat.  We closed on October 31, 2005 and were on the road on Halloween day.  We had seen the neighbors off the night before and had countless other send-offs from our beloved Colorado friends, but that didn't make it any easier.  I was very sad to leave Colorado.

So 3 days later and unknown tanks of gas, we were home in Tucson, AZ where even in November, the weather was slightly warm.  I started at my Mom's office and J went back to his old job where they welcomed him with open arms.  And as they say, the rest is history and here we are.

Oh - one last thing - this morning we watched our wedding video as we try to do every anniversary.  Had to drag out the VCR and put batteries in the remote!  Very funny watching it on video versus DVD.  It was a trip to see how we looked (so young and thin), how our friends looked (so young and thin), how our parents looked (such different hairstyles - even though it was only 6 years ago), the people that were there (and we still talk to a lot) and the people that were there (and have disappeared from our lives).  It was a trip!  And I am sure next year it will be an even bigger trip!

That's all she wrote folks.  Have a great week!  Love!