Today, I officially became a full-time permanent employee of the University of Colorado Boulder.  This is the culmination of a three-month job interview.  I started on July 11th, and officially today, I’m the Real Deal.  Of course, I took this job interview at a leap and a run, knowing these first few weeks, and then months, were going to make or break me.

And I don’t regret a thing.

It hasn’t been perfect, this move across country.  The house I had to rent sight unseen has some issues, but we’re working through them.  Food prices have been much higher than I anticipated, which has meant some adjustments in how we eat and how I cook.  But there have been some trade-offs. Like the lowest electric bills I’ve ever had, and a climate that is so comfortable that I rarely have to run the a/c in the car, giving me better gas mileage than I’ve ever had.

Then there’s the mountains.  And the people, who are mostly friendly and helpful and happy to be alive (kinda like me).  I work with a complete cast of characters, which makes my days interesting and eventful, in a good way.

I still have a lot of anger toward my old employer.  I was treated poorly, and lied to consistently for months.  When I look back on my life, there are likely to only be a few things that will make me cringe.  The six months between when I was told of my layoff, and my actual last day of work, were the most difficult of my entire life.  Being teased, then thrown to the ground, over and over, and having to pretend that everything was okay, was torture beyond measure.  And yet, I held my head high, and I did my job until the very last day.  No one can say I didn’t.  And in the ensuing months, I’ve heard nothing but regret from those that had the power to save my job there.

Not that it matters now, anyway.  I am in my dream state, fully ten years before I thought I’d be here.  I’m working at my dream campus, which I never thought would happen.  I wake up every morning and know I’m going to see my mountains, in various stages of dress (snow, yellow Aspen, green and black pine).  I don’t cough anymore, and I don’t need my inhaler.  I fix my hair in the morning and it stays that way all day long.  My greasy, perpetually pubescent skin has cleared completely.  I’ve spent more time outdoors in the last three months than I did in the previous year in Missouri.  I’ve lost more than 20 pounds and am wearing my “skinny jeans.” Next year, once it’s been two years since my knee surgery, I’m going to learn to ski.

I pinch myself every single day.  It still, somehow, doesn’t feel real.  But I’m still grinning ear to ear!

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