How do you measure a year in the life?

Tuesday passed by pretty uneventfully for most people, but for me it was a pretty big milestone. On August 10th, 2009, I got on a plane that was one way from Raleigh, NC to Kansas City, MO. From there, my dad and my husband picked up my mom and I, and we started a journey that led us to our new home in Lawrence, KS. We sold or gave away a lot of our furniture so that we could travel easier, so we had to stop at Nebraska Furniture Mart before coming home so we'd have a bed to sleep on that night! My dad and Michael had spent the previous 2 days driving 1100 miles in our Jeep with our two cats because we didn't feel comfortable transporting them on a plane. I remember having a lot of anxiety about this move. So far, it's been the biggest of my life. Even for college, I only went about 40 miles away to Chapel Hill, NC. I mean, I'm even in a different time zone now! Being apart from my family and friends in NC is undoubtedly the hardest part of living in Kansas. Thank God for skype, cell phones, facebook, and planes. Now if only there was a direct flight from KCI to RDU I would really be in business!

We moved here so that Michael could further his career by obtaining a PhD. So for me, this has been a leap of faith for sure-to pick up my roots, from the place I've lived for the past 24 years, to follow my spouse as he goes after the next step. But I'm glad we're here. Before I knew Lawrence, I pictured flatland, nowhere to go, nothing to do, and for the first few weeks here, I didn't know how I was going to meet people. I'm so glad I was wrong about all of that. Through KU, EastLake, MoKan Greyhounds, nd Michael's family that lives here, we have met so many amazing people and done some really fun things, and Lawrence has transitioned from a means to an end to a pretty cool place to live. Here's a quick summary of our first year in Kansas:

-Michael started and completed his first year as a graduate student. He received a 4.0 GPA his first semester, taught a biology lab in the spring, interned at NIH in Maryland over the summer, and is set to begin year #2 next Thursday. He hopes to complete applications for fellowships this fall and will continue to teach undergrad biology labs. Year 2 will be pretty important, as he will have to take his oral exam at the end of the year and pass it in order to continue with the program.

-I started out working part time with the company I'd worked for in NC, helping with a project online. By the end of the year my boss offered me a full time position as a social media manager, taking care of our company's facebook, twitter, and a couple of other websites. This has been the best possible evolution of a job for me. I still get to interact with some of my favorite clients, I get paid to update facebook, share news, blog, and be a part of the social media wave. Working from home may not be for everyone, but I love it.

-We attended KU football games. Our favorite was KU vs. Duke...it was a total unexpected but sweet surprise to see our rival from the ACC out here! Even better that KU kicked their butt. ;)

-Our first Thanksgiving in Kansas where we made everything ourselves. And it turned out great! Michael is a fantastic cook and smoked the turkey on our grill, which was possibly the best turkey I've ever had. It was so nice to have a relaxing holiday where we could do things on our own time and veg out and watch the Thanksgiving parade and the dog show, although we did miss our NC relatives.

-After Thanksgiving we went to the Plaza in Kansas City for the lighting of the plaza lights. It's a big ceremony here, complete with bands playing and fireworks. It was very cold standing outside on Thanksgiving night, but very pretty. We had a blast decorating our house for the holidays and made lots of cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies.

-We narrowly escaped a blizzard on Christmas Eve that hit Lawrence. We were at home in Raleigh where it was 60 degrees! We had a great adventure using the 4 x 4 in our Jeep when we arrived back at the airport to a snow bank of 2 feet in front of our car.

-Speaking of snow, this winter was my first time really driving in it. I'm still a little apprehensive, but it helps knowing that Lawrence is pretty good about getting the roads salted and plowed. It was one of those things where if I didn't suck it up and learn how to use the 4 x 4, I wasn't going to go anywhere all winter because by the time snow finally melted, another batch would be coming.

-In January, we adopted our greyhound, Penny! She has been so much fun and really brightens my life. She is my first dog and has been a real joy. Penny has given us so much love that we are now advocates for greyhound adoption through the group we went through to get Penny. They are the best dogs, seriously! :)

-March was a hard month. I went home for a couple of weeks and basically within those couple of weeks my life changed forever. We went from my mom pushing through her chemo meds, to transitioning to hospice, to her passing away on March 31st. I will say that the outpouring of support my family received has been incredible, and really touching to see how many lives she made better just by being their friend. She inspires me everyday to be a kinder, loving person and really think about the things I do/say and how that will affect me long term. Life is TOO SHORT for petty crap! I just see it differently now. My dad, sister, and I are still struggling without her, but I think as the months go by our bond gets even tighter.

-In April we started the process of trying to find a church home. We went to a few places and met some really lovely, nice people. But I didn't feel a true click until I found EastLake Community Church on Facebook. Church for people who don't "do" church...it's been the best church experience of my life! The sermons are relevant to real life, the pastor, Matt, always weaves in funny stories to keep us entertained, they encourage questions and feedback, and there's nothing weird about it.

-Through EastLake, I found the opportunity to join a growth group, which is a small group that meets every week. My growth group studied Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies, and the 8 weeks I've spent with these women have been nothing short of amazing. We've been able to have some really deep discussions, but also have fun and have some girl talk, too. Having a safe place to vent about whatever, cry about my mom, and talk about God and how He's working in my life has been a true blessing. I have made some true friends for life from this group!

-In June, right before Michael left for his internship, I fell while taking out the trash and broke my right ankle. Fabulous, right? It really put a damper on my spirit for a little bit, but in hindsight it gave me an opportunity to bond with my sister. She flew out from NC and stayed with me for almost an entire month, helping me clean the house, taking care of Penny, driving me everywhere I needed to go, and providing me with company. This was probably the last time we'll live together like that, and so it was really cool to have that time with her. She's getting ready to start grad school in the mountains of NC so having that sister bonding time meant a lot to me.

-Other little tidbits: Michael and I started a garden and have successfully grown tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, and bell peppers; we've been on barbecue tours of Kansas City and have discovered the amazingness that is burnt ends; we've seen Lawrence's quirkier side with things like Busker Festival, Art in the Park, and even crazy random sightings of a teddy bear walking down 19th St; lots of wonderful local restaurants we've fallen in love with, giving back through volunteer projects with greyhound adoption and EastLake; learning how to make homemade bread; and much more I'm sure I'm forgetting!

So in short, it's been one heck of a year. I'm excited to see what year #2 will bring! So far we've got: membership class at EastLake at the end of August, the Great Greyhound Gathering in September, a Vegas wedding in October, Dad coming out here for my birthday/Thanksgiving, Christmas in Raleigh, and who knows from there!