Saturday, May 12, 2018

We are moving...again...and it isn't anything we expected...

Short version: We had no idea, but Mike's boss wanted him to come with him to a job in Colorado. It turns out the reason we felt like we shouldn't buy a house was because we would be moving. It will be great for Mike's career and wonderful for my health. (Not that I'll be cured, but the climate is much better and resources are better as well.) We will be there in 1 month. We have been inspired along the way, but only little glimpses one at a time. It took faith to move forward each step along the way, but we are glad we did so. It all finally makes sense and will be a great blessing.



The 1885/1889 phone and the seating under the stairs


$185,000 and the house we MISSED by ONE day...

It's a LONG story with a WHOLE lot of inspiration and people NOT doing their job. If 4 people had done their job correctly or timely, we would have had this house. If I had stood up stronger, we would have had this house (or another house we put an offer on before our house was on the market). Either way, we felt a great deal of inspiration and a push to sell our home. I learned a lot about how my inspiration may go against everyone else's expertise, experience, and their own feelings. But, if I feel it, I need to stand up for it. I did with the house we sold, and thank goodness we did. I knew who would buy our house without even meeting them. There were 3 times to doubt that because the viewing fell through, the financing fell through, and the timing was quite crazy. But, it ended up being exactly as I felt with THREE different homes (my dream Victorian, a French Provincial home, and our home that we sold).

However, even when you know or feel that something will happen or it's right, it doesn't exactly make it easy every step of the way. In fact maybe I should start expecting opportunities to doubt to follow inspiration instead of being surprised by it.

In the end, I know what has happened is the RIGHT thing. And that EACH time I received inspiration, it was just a little at a time. But it took a great deal of faith to move forward on each LITTLE piece of inspiration. It honestly didn't make sense most of the time. It didn't make sense to the first two realtors (French Provincial home for $95,000), the second realtor (who showed us the Victorian home and sold ours), the investor who bought our home (or anyone at the table on the day of closing), the management company who rented us our current duplex, or a lot of other people. Every single time it turned out exactly as I felt it would. From prices, to time lines, people involved, and offers. But, I've learned that you have to go with your inspiration even when it doesn't even make sense to you/me. 5-6 months later it finally makes sense and all the pieces have come together.

This wasn't our plan or our expected timeline.

1) Jan/Feb 2017: My neurosurgeon recommended we visit Colorado for the CBD. We found out you have to be a resident of CO with a red card for the higher concentrations. Instead you could order hemp sources of CBD with lower concentrations online (for the time being at least. Last time I looked Kansas and Utah are fighting even a hemp source, which I don't understand in the least. Pure CBD is NOT marijuana.).
2) Hubby asked my neurosurgeon on another visit how helpful it would be to move me out of KS climate. He said it would DEFINITELY help, so we figured after Mike was done with his schooling (2019) we would look into moving to Utah or Idaho near family.
3) Hubs told his boss what the neurosurgeon said and that eventually we may move west.
4) 6 months ago a company was building a second plant and starting to look at staffing the place. The chief engineer had worked at hub's current company. They started talking to his boss about coming to work for them instead. Boss wasn't too interested, but they really wanted him.
5) Boss joked with Mike that maybe he should come with him. Mike laughed and said, "Well, the neurosurgeon said to go." They joked but never really talked about us coming out there again.
6) 4ish months ago the company gets serious about wanting Mike's boss. He really starts considering it.
7) We sell our house. For some reason we can't find a house we feel good about.
8) We sign a contract on a new rental.
9) 2 weeks later, the week we are moving the rest of our stuff, we find out that Mike's boss has talked to the new company about HIM. The whole company has talked about him. His boss negotiated that he wanted MIKE to come to their company as well.
10) They hold off posing the job, tell Mike when they post it, less than 12 hours later they ask why Mike hasn't filled it out online yet.
11) He fills it out and doesn't hear anything from them for several weeks.
12) I agonize over whether we should or shouldn't move. What about next year? WILL he get the job? Are they no longer interested? How much will they pay? What are the benefits? Is that why we weren't supposed to buy a home? We JUST signed a year contract on this place!! (Did I mention that to get out of this place costs $500 and the apartments we were looking at were gonna cost thousands?)
13) I feel good about what was going to happen. Mike isn't sure. He finally gets the call. They ask, "What will it take to get you here (to work for us)?"
14) 2 weeks later (week before finals), we take a quick 2 day trip (22 hours in the car).
15) We look at 2 apartments, 1 home to buy, and as I'm applying at night for the 2nd apartment I feel, "STOP, there's something better." I find a better place with a cool realtor/owner and we have decided to rent for 3-4 years. Hubs meets with the company and they are amazing! Both of us feel a great sense of peace and know this is exactly where we are supposed to be at this time.
16) His jobs leading him here have all had purpose in different ways. ALL leading here.
17) We are moving to Colorado in one month.

**Funny facts: I always wanted to live in California, Colorado, or Washington state (<--again). But I figured it wasn't a real possibility and didn't think much about it the past decade or so. On our 2nd wedding anniversary my cousin recommended Estes Park and my dear aunt and uncle let us use their time share condo to celebrate. On our way to pick up our daughter from my parents, we passed Loveland/Greeley/Evans. We LOVED the area and I said I wanted to live there! Mike said, "Find me a job here and I'll move you wherever you want. This is a great place!" I looked for a day and realized there just weren't jobs there. Fast forward 4 more years and here we are because of a job! Also, when I was telling my mom that we were looking at homes to buy in the area, we included Fort Collins. Right when I mentioned it, she got a call from FORT COLLINS! The impeccable timing and chance at seeing it right then was so rare and amazing. The way we were led to the townhouse/condo we will rent is also quite interesting.**


Yesterday we met with my fabulous neurosurgeon and it was a good meeting. He is so down to earth, honest, and open. He had a couple ideas on how to deal with my ulnar nerve issues, as well as the possible medication tolerance issues again with my TN/AD/ON/GN. Because of me, he has changed a little on how he does Radio frequency lesioning specifically on MS patients. Any neurosurgeon will tell you MS caused TN is the hardest to treat. But, nonetheless, they will use the same treatments in the same way. He has altered it and has a running theory he will test and is talking out with other surgeons and mentors. I've been told in blessings (both when I had started to die-Serotonin Syndrome-and with this failed minor brain surgery) that what I'm going through is for more than just me. Who knows if he continues to be a specialist in the area of Trigeminal Neuralgia and MS patients in particular? Maybe it's just specifically for me and the few around me. But, maybe it's more.

The best part was that my neurosurgeon is especially excited about our move to Colorado. He believes it will be better for my health in several ways. We will still come back to meet with him at least yearly. In a few years if I'm still struggling we will implant electrodes under the skin in my face/head. But that is down the road and I'm not going to think about it much unless I get a bit hopeless. =)

I'm extremely hopeful for Colorado. We had NO idea his boss was talking to the company about Mike. Mike is the most humble guy I've ever known. I tell him he is amazing at least every other day. He always says, "Meh/Nah, I'm just average." Someone can tell him something he already knows (and has been doing for a year) and he will tell them, "Thanks for telling me," over and over to make the other person feel good about themselves. He won't tell someone something great that has happened because he doesn't want the other person to feel bad that it hasn't happened to them. Both his current company and his new company have talked about his leadership and they both want him!

It sure has been a crazy ride with some major ups and downs. But we feel immensely blessed and hope the next 3 years are just easy peasy. And boring. He goes to work. Lil girl goes to school. I get stronger or even just stay the same. And life is just ...boring. That's a possibility, right? Here's to CO and playin' it COO'