When I say this isn’t how I expected 2022 to look like I really mean this is  not how I thought it would look like.

Let’s be honest, did we ever really think it was going to be anything that we expect anymore after the last couple years?

Thanksgiving of this last year really put a twist on our future. The future of this family, my career, Blake’s career, and Jet's big, bright future.

I had my mind set on adding more yoga classes onto my schedule and finding some Colorado art festivals to dive into to sell more of my jewelry but it has come to both my husband, Blake and I’s attention that it is time for a big change.

You’re reading this because you saw the title saying we are moving and you’re probably pretty curious as to where. I first have to tell you a little bit of the backstory in order for you to understand. 

Early in 2021 our son arrived and it was the best three months of my life. I was able to soak in, slow down, and really appreciate what my body had done not just at labor but for the last 9 months. Shout out to Blake for making every second of that happen.  In May 2021, I had to put my dog of 10 years down and as I write this it still brings me tears because I miss her like it was yesterday. Without getting into much detail, small dogs tend to have bad mouths and when I got her way I was too young to address that in the early stages. By the time I had her mouth examined she was too far. The vet told us to give her the best quality of life and that’s exactly what we did. It brought peace of mind and I didn’t want her to suffer anymore after her jaw finally broke. (Brush your dog's teeth, folks and think of Little P)

What seemed like shortly after that, it was a snowball of grief. My aunt passed away alone at her home in Tennessee and this was my dad‘s really only living family member. A month later my uncle passed away and this is my mom’s closest brother. By that time I had flown out to be with my family and I finally had the chance to see first hand how far my dad’s Alzheimer’s had really gotten. 

What seemed like a blink, my grandma was diagnosed with liver cancer and passed away too. What really stings here is I was just two hours away when I had last visited my family but I couldn’t make it up there because I didn’t make the time. I also was torn with the time spent with my dad.

Thanksgiving led to some events that I won’t share out of respect for those involved but it was a tell tale sign that my dad wasn’t going to be doing any better any time soon.

Blake approached me with the idea of moving to Michigan to be near my Dad (He’s something else isn’t he? He literally has the heart of gold.) and the initial reaction was almost relief. Not relief from leaving Colorado no, not that. But it is a relief to find some sort of answer.

I left my Dad in October with a lot of heartache and this solution helps mend that part in all of us. We don’t have any idea what this means except we will be closer to family and that Blake can finally focus on his dreams or even really start to discover them. 

Either way we have a grand adventure ahead of us and Colorado will always be a part. The amount of growth is immeasurable along with the gratitude to those who helped us along the way. We are excited, nervous, anxious, heartbroken, down right bittersweet about the whole thing. I look forward to sharing with you where we go, where we end up, and how we did it along the way.