Hello from Colorado!  This Jersey Girl did it.....I made it from New Jersey all the way to Colorado, and I'm Loving It Here!  WOW!  There's so much I want to share with you (some of which will leave you in laughter, I promise)!  Before I make you laugh though, I want to thank you for all of your love, support, encouragement and friendship along the way.  These past few months have been so emotionally challenging for me; at times, I honestly didn't think I could make it through another day, yet somehow I'd always gather up the strength to keep walking the path I knew I was meant to follow.  I know that your support strengthened me, so thank you!  One of the greatest lessons I learned on this journey (and there have been many) is to know when to ask for help.  Simply put, I'm not the type of person that normally asks for help.  I don't want to bother people; I'm supposed to have it all under control; other people have busy schedules without me asking for help (and so the list goes on).  To make this move to Colorado happen though, I had to ask for help.  And honestly, I was overwhelmed with the support that I received.  Sometimes, I didn't even have to ask....the offers simply sprung forth.  Some offers were from people I knew I could count on, while others were from people I barely knew.  Regardless, there was an abundance of help readily available to me.  Had I not allowed that help into my life, I would not be where I am today.  I mention this because there is a huge lesson in this - we have to be open to receiving, in order to receive.  This was quite an eye-opener for me.  That doesn't mean things always went perfectly.....believe me, there were instances where people who I thought would be supportive turned out to be the biggest opponents to my decision, while those I thought would challenge me with my decision, turned out to be my greatest supporters.  Through it all though, God took care of me; I was supported beyond measure.

Saying "good-bye" to everyone back East was so incredibly hard for me.  I've never been good at good-byes.  As I hugged each one of you good-bye, I could feel love emanating from your heart to mine.  With some of you, that hug was in person; with others it was through a loving voicemail message that brought me to tears; and with others it may have been an e-mail message.  I was blown away by the love I felt from all of you.  I mean that!  What a gift!  Each person I said good-bye to somehow instilled profound awareness and insight into my life - whether reminding me of something from my past or giving me something to carry into my future.  One example was when I said good-bye to my doctor.  My doctor has been treating me for years.  After meeting about twenty doctors (no kidding), all who implied my physical pain at that time was "all in my head," I met this wonderful, kind doctor who looked at me and said, "I believe you."  What relief to finally be believed by the medical profession!  Working together, we were able to filter out possible diagnoses; until it was determined I had fibromyalgia.  He worked with me for years, right through my extensive thoracic surgery.  When I was having surgery, I was so sick and so "out of it" that I honestly had no clue what was going on with my body.  In all honesty, I was in so much pain that I really didn't even care if I made it through surgery; that's how much pain I was in.  Before leaving for Colorado, I had one last visit with my doctor and we talked about how far I've come.  And in the middle of our conversation, he told me how close I was to losing a limb because of how badly my body was shutting down at the time.  I think my jaw hit the floor.  I knew I was in bad shape, yet I never realized that I almost lost a leg or an arm.  This brought me to tears of gratitude to say the least.  It made me realize how far I have come, as today I'm doing things that I was never expected to do again.  My new home has three very long flights of stairs to climb - it's great to be on the top floor once you're all settled in; it's not so great when you have to carry boxes up so many steps.  Yet, you better believe that not once did I complain.  Rather, I kept giving thanks that I had both of my legs and both of my arms to do the work that needed to be done.  I was filled with great gratitude and deep appreciation for ALL of my body.  

Speaking of "home," many of you are wondering if I like my new home.  Some of you know that I signed a lease, without even seeing the place in person.  All I saw were pictures on line.  I could see the hesitation and nervous look in many eyes as I shared this information.  I am thrilled to tell you that my home has exceeded my expectations.  It is far more than I could have hoped for.  (Whew!)  In doing extensive work with The Journey™, I have learned how to get out of my mind and more in touch with what my Body's Wisdom is sharing with me.  By opening up to God and Grace this way, I felt very confident that the lease I was signing was the right thing for me to do; that I had found my new home.  And so, with great faith, I signed the lease.  I will admit that I was nervous turning the key to unlock the door for the first time...."What if's" began racing through my mind....yet once the door opened and I felt the energy in the space, I knew I was going to be great.  I feel so blessed to have been guided to such a great new home, and I'm very thankful to all those who helped me land here. 

Now for some laughs!  Colorado is different from New Jersey in many ways.  One such way is with pumping gas - in New Jersey, attendants come out and pump gas for you.  That's not the case in most other states.  My stepfather was a huge help with this move; he flew up from Florida to help me in a big way.  As I was driving him to the airport, I noticed my gas tank was starting to fall under a quarter tank.  In that moment it hit me, "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PUMP GAS!"  I looked at Al (my stepfather) with panic and said, "I don't know how to pump gas!"  Now mind you, we were driving for three very long days from New Jersey to Colorado and HE was pumping gas many times....don't think I took the time to pay attention to any of this though!  Needless to say, when I realized my dilemma, there was no time for us to go to a gas station for Al to show me how to pump gas; Al had a flight to catch, so he had to talk me through it.  The next day, I go to the gas station and prepare to pump gas all by myself for the first time.  Although nervous, I think I'm doing an okay job....the nozzle kicks back, I tighten the gas cap, get my printed receipt and go to start up the car.  Imagine my dismay when I see I only filled the car up ¾ of the way.  The perfectionist in me felt like such a failure, because I didn't fill the gas tank up ALL the way.  I'm embarrassed to admit this, yet I will....my eyes welled up with tears and I thought, "I can't do this; I'm not going to make it."  (I can move across the country, yet I can't fill up a gas tank!)  Of course, my Colorado friends think this is the funniest thing.  (Thanks!)  Now when they go to the gas station, they think of me and laugh.  And YES, I can now completely fill my car up with gas.