July 20th – Move back to Colorado
The move to Colorado has been very exciting, crazy, and of course stressful. Not being able to move any boxes with my recently reattached Achilles caused us to hire movers, which is not only expensive but very slow. One complete month has passed from when the movers first came and picked up most of our belongings and we just received our stuff yesterday. With how much it cost to move stuff, every cubic inch counts. So anything we didn’t really like we didn’t have them load on the truck. So that means we gave away a couch, two dining room tables, all of our chairs except the sweet lazy boy Jay Webber gave us, a desk, a futon, a couple dressers, shelves and basically everything that would fill a house up. So now that our stuff has finally arrived all we really gain is a bunch of books, couple of beds and some pots and pans, oh oh and my race bike – too bad I can’t ride it for another year.
I have to give so much credit to my wife Sara. She single handed took care of one-legged husband, packed up all of our belongings, contained our little 18month old adventure seeker, and managed Brent the very typical emotionally challenging teenager.
The most stressful thing about the transition was getting my internet connection. As you can imagine, with the way my work is set up, that is very inconvenient. I could not get Comcast to come out to my house to hook it up until 10-days after our arrival. In the mean time I spent tons of time and money trying to get my 4-year old lap top up to speed in order to handle a wi-fi connection at the Boulder coffee shops. After two failed wi-fi cards, a new window operating system, a lost power adapter, 4 trips to circuit city and a ˝ dozen unproductive trips to the coffee shop I finally got it working. To make matters worse, when Comcast finally arrived they could not get into my neighbors yard to hook it up because of a locked fence and a large dog. I sure wish I knew they had to get in my neighbors yard ahead of time. So back to the coffee shop I went for a few more days.
It is wonderful to be back in CO. However, missing our friends and life in MN is also very difficult. One of the hardest things about being here in CO is that the environment breeds physical experience. We moved to the cute little town of Louisville, just a few miles from the base of the Foothills that quickly climb up to the Continental Divide at 13,000 feet above sea level. The desire to hike, bike, and run up these amazing spectacles of nature is immense.
For instance, today when on a short walk after a picnic with my brother Joe and his wife we saw a rattle snake a little too close to comfort. Sara noticed it because it hissed at her, Kyle and Brent as they walked by a few feet away. All at once Sara swung Klye into her arms, squealed, jumped and sprinted along with Brent to safety. Of course I was hobbling behind with my leg in a cast and was left with a large rattler between me and the rest of my family. I gingerly walked by the snake staying just long enough to get a snap shot (see pic and note how camouflaged those things are). My family, a bit freaked out, was already heading back to the car and I wanted to hobble up the trail a little longer. …Something about the mountains…
Even though I have not been able to exercise, I have been enjoying exercise. Sara and Brent have been working out enough for all of us. Every day they are either biking or running. Brent biked up Flagstaff one of the local mtns just outside of Boulder the 3rd day we were hear and Sara is training for the Louisville Duathlon. With my bomb proof cast immobilizing my ankle, I am able to bike lightly without doing any harm. So I have been doing some light riding with Sara and Brent.
The pain left my Achilles about 10-days after my surgery and the swelling subside after 2 weeks. About 4 weeks post surgery I could bare my weight with little discomfort. My cast comes off in two days and I can’t wait. I am extremely nervous because my Achilles will be much more vulnerable without the cast. After 10 years of Achilles pain, I really want a healthy and full recovery. I am hoping to be swimming in a couple of weeks, because as my wife can attest, I need to be exercised!
Hope to see a lot of you in Minneapolis tomorrow
Date modified: 7/21/2005 |
