Y’all there’s too much gratitude for one post! For one week. For one helluva week.
It all began with setting up for the baby shower, which honestly was almost as fun as the shower itself as my mom, aunt, and I, with some help from my dad, decorated and tied favors and hung diapers and drank wine. Not to steal the thunder from the baby shower itself, I went from a cleat to a high heel—for real—as I dashed from pickup football to party time, as it was perfect. It was SO much fun meeting everyone, the food (La Barbecue, Little Ola’s biscuits, and Bonjour Brigadeiros) was divine, and pictures beautiful. That lil baby boy is gonna be very loved—my NEPHEW! I’m so grateful my sister-in-law is such an amazing person, friend, and wife to my brother. Her family is my family, and that makes me so happy.
And then I met up for a belated birthday celebration with the football friends that was epic, ignited by bartender Alex recognizing me across a street as I get out of the uber because she saw my yellow dress on ig stories earlier, running out of the bar she was working in, and inviting us in… there was a Michael-off between New and OG, a ski trip planned, and more love and laughter than even I expected. I’m so grateful for that group of randos, brought together by a love of football that turned into a love of each other.
And then! I hopped a plane to Aspen for four hours with my bromance and one $40 lobster roll before we drove to GJ for a Paul Cauthen concert at the Mesa Theatre that was incredible. Completely redeemed the time I got shushed at an acoustic show of his, and our outfits were the perfect complement to our placement at the stage mere feet from the singer and band. Grateful for new friends and old, naturally.
And then … the reason for the visit, the reconstructive knee surgery. I’m so grateful Bromance made it through, everything went awesome, and he’s recovering really well. I’ve been working like a dog which has been perfect as he’s immobile and out of it, so we couldn’t watch our shows… though we did manage to make it most of the way through one season. But I’m grateful he let me in, let me come take care of him, and let me love him in a vulnerable time.
But honestly, I can’t claim to be a saint: a week in Colorado pretending like I still live here, working and hiking and grocery shopping and cooking dinner and going to yoga? It’s also a little slice of heaven. I hiked every day, took (too early) morning coffee on the patio in the verdant backyard, got disturbed by a buck on a video conference call, got caught in a mid-afternoon rainstorm, and got to just chill with my best friend. And I’m really, really grateful for that.
