I biked for a half hour, again while watching Food Network. Paula was on once more with her son Bobby, I don't remember what they were making, but it looked too good as usual. I finished my ride, went back upstairs, showered and got ready for the day. I'd been looking forward to Saturday the most, because that was my day to spend with Matt so we could get an idea of where we wanted to live when we move out there.
We gathered all our belongings, checking and double checking to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, and left the room that had been home for the last two nights. We got into our rental car, (which I haven't mentioned before) far from being a car, we'd been upgraded to a fully-loaded Suburban when we went to pick up our car from Enterprise. It had been quite nice to drive around in, but I would never chose to buy a Suburban, they're far too large and intimidating for me to even consider driving. In any case, we got in the Suburban and headed south to Castle Rock.
Castle Rock was a nice looking town, outlet shops and nice neighborhoods similar to where we're already living. The issue with Castle Rock is that it's a bit far from downtown. I liked it because it seemed much less intimidating than the Denver area. I felt like I could probably get around there on my own. But with gas prices the way they are, it'd be a bit expensive to drive to and from there everyday for Matt.
Next stop on our list was Parker, but we kind of forgot that we were heading there until we were past it. We could have gone back, but the freeway to Parker was a toll-road and we didn't know the backroads well enough to make it worth the time we'd spend backtracking.
Since it was after 11:00, and we hadn't had breakfast yet, we were quite hungry. Matt pulled into a Chucky Cheese restaurant parking lot where we sat consulting the map on his iPhone looking for a nearby place to eat that would be friendly to my diet. As Matt read off lists of restaurants, I was becoming more and more agitated. Nothing sounded good because nothing sounded familiar. I felt so lost. The streets were confusing, and I didn't know where we were or really how we'd gotten there. I felt vulnerable and scared. We finally decided on a place called Heidi's Deli. As we walked in toward the deli, tears rolled down my cheeks under my sunglasses. I explained to Matt that I felt lost and I was scared. He took my hand and told me we'd just find our way together. There it was. Peace. I wasn't doing this alone. My best friend would be by my side.
Heidi's was really fantastic. As we walked in the comforting smell of homemade bread and good food put me at ease. I ordered 1/2 of an Awesome Salad (it really was awesome) and Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Smoked Gouda. Yum. Matt had a club sandwich on homemade ciabatta bread. It looked fabulous.
After lunch, we drove through Centennial for a bit, and found an open house for a home that was up for sale. From the outside, the house looked just like a ranch house, and not a very big one at that. We decided to go in and take a look just to see what the price was like for a home like that. When we got in there though, it was bigger than we expected with a price to match. $450,000! Woah. It was a beautiful home though and fun to look.
Then we drove through Ken Caryl. We found another open house. This time, the home was just smaller than the one we're in currently. We thought the price would be a bit higher than ours (just cause things are that way in Colorado and especially in Ken Caryl) and again we were astonished when we saw they were asking $430,000. Yikes.
I finally decided to look online and see if we could find something that was actually for rent in our price range. I found a place and we drove by. It was a dump. I was becoming increasingly discouraged. We decided that we'd had enough looking. We really like Highlands Ranch, Littleton and Centennial. So hopefully when the time comes to actually choosing a house, we'll be able to find one in one of those areas, and at least we'll know what the area is like if we see something we like online.
It was time to pick up Matt's mom, Becky, from Uncle Bob's house. She was going to be joining us on our flight home. We visited for awhile with Aunt Reiko, Uncle Bob, Nana and Becky before heading to the airport.
Stopping to get some gas confirmed that we would never be buying a Suburban. For three quarters of a tank it cost $87. Gulp. Fun to drive, not so fun to fill up. The Suburban was returned to Enterprise painlessly and we got on a shuttle that took us to the airport.
Becky checked her bag onto the flight and we headed toward security. I removed my jacket and shoes put everything else into my bag then onto the conveyor belt. Going through security always makes me nervous, but I wasn't too worried because I wasn't bringing back anything that I hadn't taken with me in the first place. But as my bag and my carry-on came off the belt, a large TSA guard grabbed my bag, told me to collect my other things and meet him over at a table. My hands began to shake and my heart began to pound. He pulled a small water bottle out of my bag. How could I have forgotten? He asked if I wanted to step outside of the security area to drink it. I declined. Then he pulled my 3.75 oz. bottle of Mary Kay oil-free make-up remover from my bag and told me that all liquids had to be under 3.2 oz, and this bottle was too large. He was also going to have to take that. I waved him off and nodded as I continued to shake, feeling criminal for my indiscretions. Then the hot tears began to flow down my face. I was crying. . . again! I was embarrassed and just wanted to shrink and hide from everyone around me. Stupid make-up remover. Stupid TSA. Stupid Denver! I just wanted to go home.
We boarded our plane about an hour and a half later and found that our flight had to have one of the most entertaining flight attendants ever! His name was Jason and looked a bit like a large John Travolta- like the brother of Edna Turnblad on Hairspray! He gave the initial flight instructions so quickly, he must have spent some time as an auctioneer or a car commercial spokesperson. We all cheered for him when he finished. Then, he lip-synced the emergency instructions and seat-belt instructions as they were pre-recorded in a female voice. Funny stuff. After the pre-flight entertainment, I settled into my seat and felt the thrill of being lifted 35,000 feet into the air.
The best part of flying from Denver to Provo is that the flight is so short. It seems just as you get to altitude and cruising speed, you begin to descend. It wasn't long before I saw my mountain valley home from overhead. I breathed a sigh of relief, I was home. I know that I'll be going back to Denver and even living there, but for now, I'll enjoy where I'm living. I love my neighborhood and living close to both my family and Matt's. Sometimes I just cry when I think about having to leave. If you haven't guessed yet, I cry, A LOT. It's just part of who I am. It doesn't really matter if I'm happy or sad. If an emotion can present itself in tears, it will.
I loved seeing my children after three days and hearing them excitingly call "Mommy, mommy!" and want me to hold them. Which I did. And I thought, moving may be scary and the change difficult. But I get to do it with the people that I treasure most in this world.
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