Ode to Colorado

Fast forward five and a half months.... It is now the middle of September, and fall is upon us. Boulder has been downright chilly this month, and snowflakes have already graced the landscape at higher elevations. The aspens are leaving behind their bright greens of summer in favor of the golden yellows that, in mass, can take the breath away. Yes, the Rocky Mountains are a spectacular place of big and bold beauty. Add a touch of fall with its crisp apple-cidery goodness, and you're pretty darn close to heaven.

Too bad I'm not in Colorado to enjoy it...

These days I happen to be sweating out the still-lingering heat in Nashville, Tennessee - the new home of the Coelho family. Yup, we packed up our bags (nay, our whole house) and moved halfway across the country on a big top adventure. There are no polar bears here in the southeastern US, of course, and Darwin wouldn't be overly impressed by the Tennessee finches (I know, I know, I still owe you a posting on the Galapagos Islands...I've been sidetracked as of late). But just the same, we are setting off on an adventure of the grandest scale possible: a major life change.

When I moved to Boulder seven years ago, it was a very different sort of move. At that point in time, I was single and carefree. I managed to fit everything that I needed or wanted in my little VW beetle. I was moving to a new city, site unseen, where I knew not a soul, and it felt great! By the time I pulled into my new town, I was ready to jump in and go go go go go. Friends to make, mountains to climb, camping to enjoy...

And what happened then? My life unfolded in the most beautiful and perfect way. Even during those inevitable tarnished stages when circumstances didn't feel so perfect, I was on the ideal path for me. I look back on my time in Boulder, and I couldn't be happier that I found the carefree courage to strike out west. Over the years, I made friends in Boulder I consider as much a part of my family as my blood-kin. I met the man who, on a daily basis, far exceeds any silly childhood notions I ever had about love. And I certainly learned more about who I am and why I am on this planet than I could have anticipated. There's something about the mountains that pulled it out of me, even against my will at times.

It's very easy for me to slip into the mindset that I must pack a bag and "go somewhere" in order to be on an adventure. I'm a traveler and explorer at heart, so if I set my sights on, say, Bhutan, then I want to hop on a plane, by golly, and go trekking in Bhutan! But as I sit here pondering the last seven years of my life, I realize acutely that the real adventure happens every day. It's in the mundane details of making new friends, sharing dinner with the ones you love, jogging on a path through the woods... I may have photographs of polar bears and blue footed boobies and the Swiss Alps, but really those are just snapshots of where I've been. The real adventure can't be pasted into a photo album or uploaded onto a blog.

So here I am in Nashville, settling into a new routine, a new viewpoint. Maybe the leaves are still green here, and maybe the only reason to carry a sweater is the overblown air conditioning typical of Southern establishments, but here we are nonetheless. I'm a little sad to leave Colorado, it's true. And I'm okay with that. Colorado will always be a big piece of who I am. But Nashville is my new adventure, and I must keep in mind that my days here will add up over time to even more beauty and goodness than I can imagine. And I know this will be true if I continue to experience each day to the best of my ability. So really all I can say at this point is bring it on. Let the unfolding begin...