Colorado Part II

After Jeremy's interview at Medical Center of the Rockies ("MCR" if you want to be cool), we wanted to debrief a bit and let him tell me all about it. So, what better place to sit and talk but a brewpub? Jeremy had previously looked up breweries in the Fort Collins and Loveland area, and there happened to be one just a few miles away from the hospital. So off we went to sample some local beer and to talk. The name of the brewery was Grimm Brothers, and we enjoyed it. 

When we were done, we headed off to Boulder to meet our friends. It was quite a trip down memory lane to drive through Longmont and go right past our old church, and then head into Boulder where we lived for nearly 2 years. It was all so familiar to us, yet it had been 9 years since we'd moved away. 

We met our dear friend Lou Ann and some of her friends, and then our friends Erik and Jessica met us at a cool restaurant called Salt in downtown Boulder. It was a lovely evening, except for the fact that I was as tired as I have been in a long, long time and could barely keep my head in the game. I think everyone felt sorry for me. For some reason Jeremy was just fine, but man I was longing for a bed.

Buddies! Jeremy and Erik

Silly Lou

Exhibit A: Not conducive to hiking....

We spent the night at Lou's house and it felt soooo good to sleep in! I don't think we got up until 9am. Then it was off to breakfast in Boulder at one of our favorite places, Le Peep. Very nostalgic for us. After that, we headed into the mountain for a hike near Lost Lake. It was a gorgeous day and a great hike, except for one small detail. My hiking shoes literally fell apart on me! Please see exhibit A. This should NOT happen. Stay tuned for the next installment of our Colorado adventure.

Colorado part I

In late September, Jeremy and I went on a much needed weekend getaway to Colorado. My sister Sharon graciously agreed to come to our house to stay with our little monkeys, so off we went to visit the state where Jeremy and I met and got married.

Not sure what we were thinking, but we (meaning I) booked a 6am flight out of San Antonio. Which meant we needed to be at the airport by 5am. Which meant we needed to leave our house by 3:45am. Which meant we had to wake up at 2:50am. Which meant we were ridiculously tired the entire day! But we made it, and it was a great weekend.

We landed in Denver at 10am and rented a car and headed directly to Loveland, CO. The airport was so familiar to me, and in a strange way, seemed like my "home" airport even though I haven't lived in Colorado for 9 years. I kind of forgot how in-the-middle-of-nowhere it was, but was also surprised to see how much has grown up around it. Loveland was only about 45-50 minutes away and it seemed like a hop, skip, and a jump.

Why were we in Loveland, you ask? Good question. I'll share a little secret with you.... my husband interviewed for a job at a hospital there! It's called Medical Center of the Rockies, and it's a gorgeous 5-year old facility with 8 operating rooms. Here's a picture I took of the hospital right after I dropped Jeremy off for his interview:

He was blown away by the people he met, the quality of the equipment and the rooms, and the general mentality of the hospital system. He walked away from the interview and told me it would be an honor if he got a job offer from them. Quite honestly, it has been hard to go back to his current job, now that he knows what else is out there.

The interview itself was somewhat of a step of faith, because we're not officially ready to move just yet. And the manager that he interviewed with knew that, and was still willing to meet with him. Jeremy told them that we'd be looking at early next year at the soonest, and they understood. But for us, finding a job is a very large piece of the moving puzzle, as we don't feel like it would be wise to just pick up our family and move without knowing what kind of employment is available. It ended up being a huge relief to us, knowing that the area we're interested in for a bunch of reasons ALSO happens to have a fantastic hospital system.

I'll have to save the rest of our Colorado trip for my next post, so stay tuned!

MOM

I had a dream about my mom last night.

In the dream, my sisters and mom and I were attending the funeral of a family friend. I don't even remember who the person was, but it wasn't someone that was very close to us. My mom sat right beside me at the funeral, and all of a sudden, it was like she had come back to life, even though she had died. I started crying in the dream because I was remembering HER funeral, and with her sitting there with me, I wanted to know if she had any idea of what her funeral was like, and how we all felt about it. I wanted to tell her all about her funeral, and about how there were so many people there, and how special and honoring it was. I wanted her to know how much she was loved and remembered. But I couldn't tell her, because we were in the middle of the other person's funeral and we had to be quiet. So I just sat there and cried, not being able to tell my mom all that I wanted to. 

WOW. Tears came just typing that. I think there's so much underlying truth to the dream. There IS a lot I want to tell my mom, but can't. I DO want her to know how much she was loved, and how people came out of the woodwork to be at her funeral. I wish she could have seen it (but maybe somehow she did from Heaven? Who knows.) I wish she could have heard the stories and awesome things her friends said to me after the funeral. I wish she could read the letters that I got from some of her friends that blessed me beyond measure.

In the broader sense, I wish she knew how much my sisters and Dad think of her still, and how we're all struggling in our own ways because she's not here anymore. I wish she knew that all of us want to call her and see her and tell her things simply because she's our Mom. Even though she wasn't the same mom in recent years as she had been, she was still MY mom, and there is a gaping hole in her absence. 

When I was at my dad's house last month, I found this picture. I think it was the last one taken of the two of them, and it was on a cruise in February 2012. Don't they look great?? The picture itself is kind of fuzzy, but I think my mom looks absolutely beautiful. Hard to believe that just 6 months later she was gone from the earth. 

The only comfort that I have is knowing that she is now healed and whole. She is not hurting. She is not depressed. She has no physical ailments. She has no insecurities. She has Jesus himself! Glorious thought.

Just another day in the Hansen home...

Pretty normal for us. Aren't all homes like this?