First stop: Health update!
I am two years out from surgery now, and my latest oncology appointment and surgeon appointment were uneventful. Blood work was in line, nothing glaringly obvious on exam. Make it through one more year and I can maybe start to breathe easier. Triple negative breast cancers are most likely to reoccur within the first three years. Fingers crossed!
Some other stuff has happened since I last wrote. We, ah, moved from Pennsylvania to New Mexico!
I had a slight foreshadow in my previous post: The Mountains are Calling, and I Must Go. But I honestly thought we would be moving to Colorado. Well… plans change. Because family says, “I”m movin’ to New Mexico!” and I’m like… ok! So, we pivoted.
But still. What? Ohmigosh!
When we moved to Pennsylvania at the end of 2012 for me to begin a career as a captioner, we knew it wasn’t the place we’d land for forever. We honestly thought we’d stay for 2-3 years and then head west. Or to London. Or something. Somewhere else. Not because we didn’t like it, but because of the family thing + the mountains there are too old for me. I like younger mountains. (Younger mountains are taller - Everest is a baby)
Well, we ended up staying for almost 9.5 years. Why? Because we were comfortable. We had a beautiful home. We had the absolute best neighbors ever and many friends. Pennsylvania is very beautiful.
But.
The urge to go had never left my heart. Especially in the winter when I would suffer from some pretty bad seasonal depression. I was on 5000 IU of Vitamin D. That’s twice what would normally be prescribed. Yes, that was prescribed by my doctor. It kept me at almost baseline, but the best solution for Vitamin D deficiency is and always be something I could not get in Pennsylvania on a consistent basis: sunshine!
Well, if New Mexico has one thing in plenty, it’s sunshine! With 310 days of sunshine per year compared to 160 for the Pittsburgh area, that is a huge change. I already am feeling better physically. I make sure to go outside every day for a bit even if I’m working too much (it’s commencement season!) so that I get a nice hit of the sun. It’s wonderful.
We’ve also had a few adventures already and so many green chile salsas. Red vs green chile is a huge thing here, although I think we are both leaning toward green at the moment. My dear husband got to do something he could never do in Pennsylvania already: He flew a kite. Try it if you can. It’s very zen. I could just sit there and watch kites do their thing for hours. He also has a trick kite that we’ll get out soon. I’m not really allowed to fly it because all I do is crash it. Oops.
We see hot air balloons several days a week flying out of the Albuquerque area. Pretty cool!
And… I can see mountains from our house. Yes.
We totally bid on a house that I found on Realtor.com site unseen. It needs some updating - we already updated part of the air conditioning - but we got it for almost $15,000 under list in this market. Woot! We closed at the beginning of May and have been in our new home for just over two weeks now.
I really love it.
It’s also enormous. Oops.
I’m excited for so many new adventures. First, we’ll have face-melting heat over the summer, and then the more temperate fall-spring months. It will probably snow - yes, it snows here! And we’ll see a bit of rain in the monsoon season - July, we have been told. I’m looking forward to hiking in the Sandia Mountains. Even just walking around our neighborhood and the park nearby has been fun. So. Many. Parks.
It has pretty much what I wanted in Colorado but with more reasonable house prices and less snow. The sunshine was the most important thing.
So, this is the beginning of a new chapter. I am thankful for the previous chapters. I miss my friends in Pennsylvania and Iowa, but I really hope we get more visitors here than we did in Pennsylvania! Y’all missed a lotta cool stuff there, by the way. I still recommend a visit, you just can’t crash with us!
Unless you come to New Mexico, then I’m sure we’ll find a room for you in some wing of this enormous house.
Hugs and love to those we left behind. I won’t forget you. I promise.
Never, ever be afraid to follow your dreams.
