Well, here I am.

As I pulled up to my new townhome, I was relieved to see that it looked the same as in the pictures online.  At least, it did from the outside.  Everyone I knew had warned me against signing a lease on a place I hadn't seen in person, but I really didn't have much choice.  I had all of one week to find a place to live after I got the job offer.  Thank god for the internet.

I pulled into the driveway and spotted the landlord getting out of her car at the curb.  We exchanged greetings and she quickly unlocked the door and showed me around.  Happily, the inside looked much the same as the pictures too, and I sighed in relief.  The landlord gave me the keys, a garage door opener, and the necessary phone numbers.  After she left, I sat down on the living room floor and pulled out my cell phone.   Lauren, a friend from high school and the only person I knew in this city, answered on the first ring.  "Are you here?  Can I come over?  I'll bring wine and help you unpack!"

I laughed at her excitement.  "Wine is going to be helpful.  Maybe it will help us forget that we are sitting on lawn chairs and drinking out of plastic cups.  Um, speaking of which....do you have lawn chairs and plastic cups you could bring?"

Lauren was over within an hour, with wine, plastic cups, lawn chairs, and takeout Thai.  By that point, I was starving and sweaty from hauling in boxes from my small trailer, and thankful for the food.  "When are you going furniture shopping?" she asked, after I had given her the grand tour.

"Probably tomorrow morning, want to come?" I asked hopefully.

"Ugh, sorry, I have Casey's soccer game in the morning.  I promised her I'd be there, and I can't break a promise to a 5 year old.  But my afternoon is free if you want to go then.  It should be over around 1:00.  We could grab a late lunch and then shop."  Casey is Lauren's niece.  She's cute as a button, and apparently a budding soccer star.

"That sounds good," I replied.  "I can start unpacking some of this stuff and hit the grocery store in the morning."

We went out back to my small deck, watching the sun set over the mountains in the distance.  Lauren looked at me, and asked, hesitating, "Well, what do you think?  Are you nervous?"

Nervous?  I was petrified.  I had graduated from grad school less than a month ago.  I was lucky enough to find a therapist job within 2 weeks of graduation in the city I'd been dreaming of moving to for the last 3 years.  I suppose the 76 resumes I'd sent out, starting two months prior to graduation, probably helped a little too.  Moving to a new state when you need supervision hours to get your license requires a lot of legwork.  When they told me they wanted me to attend an orientation and training a mere 10 days after the offer, I decided I wanted to be moved out there in time for it.  Hence my internet house hunting.  Luckily, aside from the full day of training on Monday, I had over a week to get settled before my first actual day at work. 

And then there was the fact that I had left my friends, family, and comfortable existence behind, with barely a second thought.  I was so tired of the upper Midwest weather.  Days on end where the temperature didn't see a positive number in the winter, weeks of 95 degrees plus stifling humidity in the summer, and approximately one week of spring and one week of fall was all getting old.  My parents seemed to enjoy their empty nest, and most of my friends were moving or getting married.  It was definitely time to push the boundaries of my comfort zone. 

"Lauren, I'm terrified,"  I said honestly.  "But I'm also really excited.  When I passed the 'Welcome to Colorful Colorado' sign, I just felt so...calm, I guess.  Like I was going to the right place.  That probably sounds really dumb, but I've been wanting to move out here for so long.  I am really glad you're here though.  I don't know if I could have made the leap if I hadn't known SOMEONE out here!"

Lauren hugged me then, but didn't say anything.  She didn't need to.  We went back inside and she helped me unpack for about an hour.  After that, I cleared a space big enough for my air mattress in the master bedroom, blew it up, and got ready for bed.  As I was drifting off to sleep, I heard my phone vibrate.  I looked at the text, half asleep.  "Miss you already."  That was it.  If I hadn't been so tired, I would have been pissed at John, my ex.  We had broken up amicably enough around Christmas, but as soon as he heard I was applying to out of state jobs, he had weaseled his way back into my life.  But nothing had changed, and I shut that down quickly enough.  It didn't stop him from panicking when he found out I was moving, but this was a new beginning for me, and I wasn't going to let him ruin my fun.  I clicked the display off, and fell asleep easily.