My Trip to Colorado

Colorado has a special place in my heart. I have been flying out there to visit my best friend Ami since 2003... multiple times a year. It is my home away from home. It is my safe place... my happy place. It is where my "family" is...

Ami and I met back in 2003 when we were both doing a missions program with Youth with a Mission. For the first three months we lived in Los Angeles together, then for the last two months of the program  we lived in South Africa, doing missionary work together. South Africa was when we truly became bff's.

After the program was over... we both went home and later that summer she got married (on my birthday!) and I flew out to Colorado for her wedding. I quickly fell in love with her entire family (she has 6 brothers and sisters!) and soon discovered that her husband was basically a guy version of me... I consider him to be the brother I never had. Truly they are both amazing, wonderful people.





Eventually, they began having kids and now I lovingly call them all my "god-children" because there really aren't enough words to describe how much I love those three little girls.  "My-best-friend's-kids" does no justice to what they mean to me.

 Thea, Petra and Ivy

 
This past trip to Colorado was so needed for me... mainly because...well, recently I have been feeling kind of lost and very aware that I don't have a very strong biological family. I have been sorting through my feelings on being single...  and also just wondering... where the heck do I belong? Before I went out to visit them I started feeling very aware of that missing link; the community I did not have... that need for a family. I knew Colorado was where I needed to be.

In my mind.... with Ami's family in Colorado.... is where I truly belong. I have never felt so loved by anyone in my entire life. I know without a doubt that I am accepted for who I am and that when it comes down to it.... they will be there at the drop of a hat for me. They have prayed for me, supported me...financially in times of need, emotionally in times where I was a mess. Ami and I have been there for each other through some of the worst moments in each others' lives and have been able to see each other through to the other side... we call it "walking through the mud together."

This trip was especially great because life for us both has been incredibly busy.... and because we have opposite schedules... we rarely talk on the phone.... we rarely have time to catch up. So, having a solid four days to hang out and talk and debrief was so, so good.

I love it too... because I know that with Ami and Andrew.. I am just understood. They know me... they get me and sometimes there is just nothing that can compare to that.

So that is truly the gist of my trip. I spent time with the girls, playing and laughing and cuddling (they are truly the best at snuggling up and reading or watching TV).

Ami and I shared what had been going on in our lives and in our relationships. We took the girls swimming and laughed and did yoga together.
She showed me all of her beautiful jewelry she had been working on. I shared with her about work in the ICU and what I had been dealing with in terms of feeling "family-less." 
 We went shopping and to the farmer's market and cooked and just had so much fun.

It was wonderful.

Also, can I just mention that being the genius I am... I forgot to put on sunscreen that day at the pool and I ended up with THE WORST sunburn... ever. I always forget how strong the sun is up at that elevation.

Andrew and I were able to get up early one of the days to go hiking together and just had some solid, quality time to catch up also. He's an incredibly intelligent, deeply thoughtful man, who loves God a lot and loves his family with a fierceness I have yet to find anywhere else.

He has been such a blessing to me. Really like the brother I never had but always wished I did.




I consider myself to be incredibly lucky to have these guys in my life and I can't wait to go visit them again soon. Honestly... part of me wonders if I'll just end up moving there someday. It gets harder every time I have to leave... this last time I spent half the plane ride home in tears...
I felt sorry for the guy sitting next to me haha

But seriously...

The thought of getting a little house up in the Rockies and maybe working in some tiny hospital or urgent care clinic sounds really nice these days.

We shall see....

In the meantime, I have lots of great memories and great photos from my time out there and I was lucky enough to come home with tons of pictures to plaster all over my fridge.

Just a daily reminder of how much I am loved...