The way to describe this past year for me is definitely “all over the place” (positive connotation). Looking back it’s hard to believe all this happened in the same year. Here’s the recap of my first (full) year in the university of life.
January: Kicked off the year with some of my favorite people in Richmond, VA. There definitely was something special about so many of us being together again to start this year of most definitely being more scattered than ever. It’s so rare to feel so safe and comfortable in a big group of people and for that reason and many more, I’m so thankful for my college friends.
At the very end of January, I officially got my wrangling job. 🙂 I can remember exactly where I was when I got the email and the realization that the wrangling dream was coming true was surreal. A top ten moment of the year for sure.
February: I don’t feel like much happened in Feb., but it was the start of realizing some of August’s behavioral issues might be physical (later found out she had severe ulcers). I’ll be honest this was definitely an uncomfortable month because of that. August is naturally sweet and calm so for her to be just overall not herself was tough and stressful.
March: Our first official spring training trip! My first time in Arizona and Jonny’s first spring training. It was so fun to get to see Jonny play and explore a new place.
Also, Abbey and Libby did a little hometown weekend visit and I drank my first espresso martini ever! (Not sure how I made it all the way to this year without ever having one)
April: Our trip to Florence ❤ Truly the trip of a lifetime – not because I won’t be back but because we got to stay with Natalie and get a glimpse into her life in the city. It was so special to be in Italy just us girls and experience all Florence had to offer.
May: The month I left for the ranch. I remember being so anxious I wouldn’t have the right clothes or not enough of something. Getting on the plane May 23rd was definitely not the easiest thing I’ve done, but certainly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
June: Settling in, getting to know everyone, and having our first few weeks of guests. Everything was new in June. It was fun and stressful at times. I hate being new at something, I remember always being stressed about getting on my horse because I wasn’t used to doing it from the ground (something I wasn’t giving second thought to by the middle of the season, so kind of funny to look back on).
July: What I remember most about July was the SUN. Constantly beating down, no matter what, on every ride. It was a different kind of difficult than the suffocating humidity in Virginia. I actually wore sunscreen everyday and somedays we dunked our heads in the water trough to cool off between rides. I was hoping for rain on a daily basis.
August: To my shock and surprised, cool weather came with August (something I had never once experienced in my life). It was the beginning of the end of ranch life which was slightly a relief yet also so hard. August was the month of many Libby and Grace adventures. Most notably were cooking out, the warm spring cavern, and our last ride to fish a remote creek spot.
September: Honestly, September was sad for me. I don’t usually operate under prolonged sadness, and I don’t think I wanted to admit the extent of it at the time, but it was tough. I was not only grieving ranch life and missing everyone I’d spent every day of the summer with, but I also was starting my job search and trying to figure out what I wanted to do long term. I pretty much looked forward to not being home. I visited Anna in Charlottesville, had a girls weekend in Raleigh, and flew down to Greenville to visit Sarah and Dawson.
October: Riding the wave of not being home: NYC, Arizona, and Colorado were all visited in October. While my job search technically started in September, this was the month I really started networking and realized I was set on Colorado (or maybe just admitted to myself I wanted to be out west more permanently).
NYC was Natalie’s bachelorette trip and it was so sweet to get to celebrate her. This was only my second time visiting the big city and to my surprise – I liked it more than expected. Getting to see the city through locals’ eyes really helped me appreciate the energy New York City has.
Arizona was a visit to Jonny that the ‘rents planned and I got to hope in on. We stayed at a nice resort so we could all hang out as a family by the pool. My mom and I went on a hike and getting to see the desert terrain up close was unlike anything I’d experienced before. Arizona has definitely grown on me as a state, it’s warm yet also a part of the west. You could not pay me to visit in the summer, though.
I decided, given my growing interest in Colorado, to visit some family out there on my way back from Arizona. Conveniently for me, my aunt and uncle and cousins are spread out between Denver and Boulder so I got to explore all the areas. I ended up touring an apartment somewhat on a whim in Broomfield which is an area between Denver and Boulder, which happens to be the apartment I now live in.
November: The month I just sent it and moved to Colorado. Super quick turnaround considering I left Denver November 1st, decided to apply for the apartment I looked at, and started my drive out the 20th. Caroline was kind enough to drive out with me and considering we narrowly missed some snow, I was really glad to be moving in before winter really hits. We ended up doing 18 hours and 7 states day one. The second day was much more chill as we went from Kansas City, through Kansas, then Colorado (I never thought 9 hours would sound like a leisurely drive but it did). Caroline was able to stay for a couple days and help me move in and find some apartment pieces. I spent the rest of November getting my apartment sorted which was really fun and also tiring.
December: I didn’t forget to mention the job I got out in CO because yup… I moved out without one. I’ll be honest, it feels like unemployment purgatory right now. As well as the biggest step of faith I’ve taken…maybe ever in my life. As previously mentioned, I’ve been on the job hunt since September, networking with people out here since October. I’ve joked I will have talked to every finance bro in the Denver area by the time I get a job.
I remember sitting in my college classes, listening to my professors talk about how important networking is, hoping I would never have to do much of it. Ironically, I’ve put myself in a position where I need to network more than I ever thought I would. Yet, it’s been good to step out of my comfort zone and get to hear about peoples’ experiences in their careers. I’ve been able to build more of a sense of what I want and on the more discouraging weeks, hearing someone well into their career say “just keep at it, the right job will come” has been very needed.
My life right now is a daily test of faith, it feels like a sort of trial by fire, and I’m wearing out Hebrews 11 in my Bible. Kindly shaking my head at all the times I’ve casually quoted “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” As I apply for every job that looks like it may fit, and follow every networking lead I got, I’m daily reminded I have no control over God’s plan for me.
I’ll be vulnerable and say at times it feels like God is with holding a job from me. The first thing the devil asked Eve in the garden was, “Are you sure God is setting limitations for your good?”. In high school, I wrestled so much not with the “Is God good?” question, but with “Is God good to me?”. Here I am trusting that indeed He is, and I have evidence for it. Most notably would be my summer in the mountains, with horses and people I grew to love. Only God could have orchestrated the timing of it all, and only God knows where my career should begin.
All that to say, there are things I’m sure about. I love Colorado so far, I love that I can see the mountains no matter where I walk or run from my apartment. I love the dry cold and the fact that it’s sunny almost every day makes getting outside easy. When I visited, I had a sense of peace which is truly what drove me to make the move. I didn’t have a peace about staying in Virginia, and I’d recently heard some faith leaders talking about how we need to trust God will say no, loudly, when He needs to. So while I did not get a lightening bolt type of sign to move here, there was a peace and the promise that God goes with me wherever I go.
My biggest cheerleader in this move has for sure been my brother. Being the oldest, I’m used to going first, but Jonny was the first of us to move across the country. It felt like as soon as the wheels of my plane from Wyoming touched down in Virginia and I realized I may want to make a more permanent move out west, Jonny was excited for me to do it.
In 2025, I’m looking forward to being employed, meeting new people in CO, and flying back east occasionally to celebrate my people there. My optimism changes daily, but thankfully God’s goodness does not.
Here’s to the next year, friends. Maybe this is the year for your leap of faith.<3
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