The next chapter.

Hello from Colorado !

I have officially begun the next exciting chapter of my life and couldn't be more excited.

I arrived in Colorado last Friday after a 3-day "goodbye tour" across the country via route 80. I"m calling it a goodbye tour because I stopped to see a few friends I hadn't seen in a while along the way in Chicago & Iowa. It was definitely a long & exhausting 3 days but I'm so happy I was able to see friends along the way. This weekend was spent resting up & adjusting to the change in altitude & time zones. (and watching football, but we won't get into that...)

For the time being I'm staying with my step-brother & his family. I may have mentioned this before, it'll be about an hour commute to & from work, but I'm so glad this worked out as it gives me a little time to get on my own 2 feet.

On Monday I took my first drive down to Fort Carson. I'm typically not a fan of solely relying on the GPS, but when traveling somewhere I've never been before, it's a must. The drive was fairly simple, I think I'll be able to make it GPS free in no-time. The GPS actually didn't lead me astray until I was on base. Getting to Fort Carson quickly reminded me that military bases are not visitor friendly. Not in the sense of welcoming or friendly people, but they're not easy to navigate. Anyway, I eventually made it to the personnel office & got a few more paperwork items taken care of, then they sent me to the MP (military police) office to get my fingerprints done for my background checks. After that it was back to personnel to turn those in and get my instructions for what's next. Boy, the military sure does make everything a process! It's not too bad, just taking a lot of time. So now I'm just waiting to hear when I need to go to Oc Health for my physical & fill out more forms for the background checks (once I receive them)... hopefully I'll have my own ID to access base & will start orientation within the next 2 weeks, but that depends on how quickly everything moves along.

It's a long & tedious process, but so far everyone has been welcoming & very helpful. I picked up a map of the base (it's the biggest military base I've ever been to!) and am hoping to meet up with a friend of a friend soon for her to show me around Colorado Springs.

It's a slow start, but I'm enjoying every minute! I'm going to share a picture I took of the view in Colorado Springs while driving to base. You won't find me complaining about my commute ! (well, not the view at least...) ;)

Today's quote is one that seems fitting for me right now. :) Thanks for reading!!

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin