Moved ...

Well, we did it. No exclamation point. We moved from Ouray, Colorado. Not sure if I made this clear, but I love Ouray. And although and I can't say I was sure we should have stayed forever, I am sure I was devastated to drive away yesterday. The girls and I said a little blessing on our road trip before we pulled away. I bawled, and they thought I was nuts. Then to stopped at the post office to return our mailbox keys -- they helped me compose myself in the car before I went it. I didn't hold it together. Quinn said she remembers driving away from Alpine -- it was dark and daddy was behind us in the truck, and you were crying. Yup, I cried then too. I cried then for people only. A little list of friendships I feared would never be the same. And I cried from relief that we had follow our gut and it was finally happening.

But Ouray is different. I cried for my dear friends Melissa, Heidi, Maple. But I also cried for the safety my kids had there. I cried for the joy our marriage found there. The time we had together. The independence from stores. The freedom to not brush your hair. My hot sprigs pool. Our ski hill. Our little school and a hundred hugs EVERYTIME you show up anywhere. The diversity of thought. The acceptance. The underground Mormons the came out of obscurity to make sure we were ok. Burger night. The passion that everyone there felt that ouray was their home and they would stay there poor and cold because it is god's country.

When we got to Ouray, we were so embarrassed that we didn't have a REASON for being there. What would we say when people asked? We had a few stories ready. But when we met people there -- they had OUR story too. "It's Ouray," they'd say. All the explanation needed. My favorite was the dozens of people of found Ouray on a honeymoon, a second honeymoon, or a life crisis -- and felt so healed and so loved by that place that they spent decades saving to return forever. Common story. That is the heart of Ouray.

It was perfect! Many a dad with missing teeth would pick up their children from the same school at my kids. A few moms smelled horribly. The food for horrible, and the service worse. There was some meth and some crazies. And you knew all about all the problems because there was like 4 people. But that made it real. That made it a place OUR family was free to grow and change. We got to be real too.

So, I cried -- but only until we got to the KOA and met our bet friends for breakfast. We chatted like any other day. The kids played and ate and tried to swim in a fountain. And then sweet Mary Jane gave each of my girls a Marsha bag filled with toys and snacks for the car. And this our road trip was silent -- because of the sweetest and loudest person we met in Ouray -- ironic -- as perfect.

We watched a few movies I the car -- Taylor Swift in concert, Charlotte's Web (with our cat Charlotte of course), and Nemo an we stopped in Gunnison to play and buy candy and a somewhat healthy lunch. Now we are in Colorado Springs in a quint Econolodge perfectly placed between the freeway and a short strip mall of sex shops. Sweet. But the hot tub was hot, and on we go in a few hours.

I don't miss Ouray yet, and I am not excited for Tennessee yet. I'm in the middle and just pulling through -- as most women are at 34 weeks pregnant!