New friends

Entering our 7th week now in Colorado...it still feels like we are groping around in the dark, or in the blinding sunlight to be more accurate. Today is the day I enroll Z in school. I'd have done it yesterday, but the events of the day gave me some reason to pause and rethink my original plan. We moved here, to this most coveted and costly neighborhood, to be eligible to attend Whittier school, the oldest continuously operating school in Colorado. Zoe's friend Jordan is enrolled there, and his family loves it. For years we have felt like an extension of their family. We have traveled together, conquered fears, drunk our way through traumas and obstacles, and pulled close together during hot summers and cold, miserable winters. Now we hardly know them. They haven't visited us once in the time we have lived here. Our only time together was on their terms, their turf. It's no longer a mutually beneficial relationship. Even Z feels let down.

It was these friends who suggested we rent a studio from a nice couple who I happened to meet just as I was leaving a party back in May. If that was our parting gift, I am grateful. We did rent that studio, and in genius fashion, the homeowners rented their adjoining home to a delightful family of 5 from the east coast. Their daughter is my daughter's newest and sweetest friend. Their sons are a whirling dervish of grinning and mischief-making, and their dogs are a couple of geriatric piles of love. We're still getting to know them, but all signs point to us having a spectacular few months nestled into our mountain hideaway on a cushion of friendship as we grow new roots.

And as far as growing roots, this could mean shifting our original plans a bit so Z and her new friend can attend the same school. Nothing would please me more than to see Z with a partner in crime as she embarks on the 4th grade in a new city. Today I'm making the necessary calls and filling in the necessary paperwork to get the ball rolling.

Then it's time for me to settle into my own new routine! Living off of my savings this long was a frightening possibility, but now that my leg is healing...I need to push ahead.