The Right to be Ridiculous is Something I Hold Dear

Last night, it finally happened - the U2 show in Denver. When the U2 360 Tour was first announced, Denver was not on the list. Carter, his sister and I traveled to Vegas because I could not miss seeing my favorite band on tour. The day after we got back from Vegas, they announced an upcoming Denver show. Pumped from our post-concert buzz, we bought up as many tickets as we could and planned the U2 Denver Extravaganza. We had family and friends flying in from all over the country for the June 2010 show. Much to our dismay, Bono injured his back 2 weeks before the concert and they cancelled the rest of their North American tour while he underwent emergency back surgery and recuperated. Fortunately, he recovered well and they rescheduled the missed tour dates. It ended up working out better for the Denver fans because it POURED rain the entire weekend of the original date. This would not have been a good situation for Invesco Field, which is an open-air stadium.

Fast forward a year later to the U2 Take Two Denver Show. It was a beautiful day (haha) and we had a fantastic time tailgating with friends and family. Richard and Mary flew in from Richmond and we've had a blast spending the weekend together. Peter taught us how to play Kubb, which even mesmerized the cops.

View of Denver from Invesco

Mary and I 

The guys

Carter playing Kubb

Great opening by The Fray

The concert was simply perfection. U2 was one of the first bands I ever fell in love with. When I was 10-11 years old, I found a box of my dad's cassette tapes. When I stumbled upon The Joshua Tree, it was the first time I felt "it" - that feeling you get when you are swept away by a song/artist and completely lose yourself in the music. Thus began my love affair with U2. One thing I love about Bono is that he uses his influence to draw attention to charities and causes that otherwise wouldn't get the attention. I felt so inspired leaving Invesco last night. From a fan perspective, I also appreciate that U2 encompasses both roles as musicians and performers. Since they've been around the block a few times, they know how to tear it up musically while getting the crowd fired up and involved. They always give us what we want, giving us the opportunity to fall in love all over again. I got my fix of hearing all of my favorites and more. When we got married, I had to incorporate a U2 song into our wedding. We chose "Beautiful Day" for our grand entrance into the reception. This week marks our 4-year wedding anniversary and it was a special treat for us to hear it last night and reflect on what the song means to us. And who doesn't soak up slow dancing to "With or Without You" with the person you love? Even though I now have no voice and can't hear from the ringing in my ears (isn't getting older a stinking #$%?) it was well worth the year long wait.

To Colorado, with Love

Now that we are slowly closing the chapter on our life in Colorado, I've been reflecting on what an impact it's had on us over the past 4 years.

We found out Carter matched at the University of Colorado Hospitals 2 months before our wedding. We were so consumed with the final wedding details that I couldn't even conceptualize a cross country move until we returned from our honeymoon. Then, we had a big oh s**t moment and realized we had less than a week to frantically throw everything in boxes and drive 2,000 miles to our new home. And thus we began our adventure; as newlyweds in a new city.

When Carter was interviewing, I made a pros/cons list of each place that could potentially be our new home. When I made the list for Denver, there were plenty of pro's but I couldn't really think of any con's. The ones that made the list? 1) Snow 2) Increased flight turbulence due to the mountain air. While I'm still not particularly fond of either, it makes my heart happy when I reflect back and see how the number of pro's are exponentially greater than I ever imagined.

Colorado has truly been our home. I feel especially grateful that it gave me a sense of getting back to my roots. Even though Denver is much larger city, it feels so much like Warrenton at times. My favorite house growing up was our Wilshire house. We lived in the country, had horses, lots of land and just ran around outside all day long. We had a huge garden and spent summer nights snapping beans, shucking corn and catching lightning bugs. My sisters and I were in our horse phase and loved spending hours riding and hanging out with the animals. We caught toads in the creek, barefoot, with mud squishing between our toes, and spent hours exploring the woods and letting our imaginations run wild.

Like most teenagers, I stopped spending time outside and more time...I don't even know what we did as teenagers. Trying to find something to do? Being mall rats? But I really forgot how much I loved exploring nature. Living in Denver, I feel as if I've reconnected to my roots and can't get enough hiking and being outdoors. It just makes me feel so alive and connected to the world. We've been on the most breathtaking hikes and bike rides as we've explored some of the most beautiful scenery our country has to offer. From the Rocky Mountains to Moab, to Yellowstone and the Black Hills in South Dakota, it feels so good to be reconnected.  Thank you, Colorado, for reconnecting me with nature.

When we first discovered we were moving to Denver, I remember someone saying to me, "Everyone I've ever known who moves to Colorado says they truly found themselves there." And I remember thinking, yes. please. I grew up wanting to be a dental hygienist. But in college, I majored in marketing, primarily because they had the best study abroad opportunity in Switzerland. At that time, what I needed more than anything was to spread my wings and satiate my burning to desire to experience. have adventures. travel. I loved every second of those opportunities and experiences. But when it was time to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I was always stuck. I was very passionate about the marketing path I was on for a while, but it was temporary and I could feel myself losing interest. It didn't feel right; not part of my purpose. When we moved to CO, I was able to hear my inner voice. And I realized that I would always feel like I wasn't fulfilling my purpose as long as I wasn't a dental hygienist. And in one year, I will be. Thank you, Colorado, for giving me the cojones to completely change my career. It's been a long journey but I finally feel like I'm doing what was intended for me.

So, thank you, Colorado, for enriching our lives. For beautiful scenery that takes my breath away and makes me feel connected to the earth. For making me tougher by giving me a foot of snow to drive to work in. For the friends we've reconnected with, friends we've made, and friends who've become family. For a community that embraced us. For giving me the experience of falling in love with nature all over again. For giving us new things to discover together during our first 4 years of marriage. For saving me from crappy beer and turning me into a beer snob. For great music at Red Rocks. For reminding me of how rewarding a backyard vegetable garden is. This will always be the Place We Lived When We Were First Married. The home of Our First House. It's been a beautiful chapter and I'm glad we have a year to say goodbye.

My humble little veggie garden

Tally letting it all hang out after a long hike