The View From a Different Window: upon the passage of nine months~

Greetings dear friends and family on this Tuesday, February 25th in the year 2014. Hard to believe or even imagine that it will soon be time to turn the kitchen calendar page over to show us the fine month of March. It's always been my favorite of months, I suppose mostly because of the arrival of Spring and all the new life that it brings along with it. Winter hands off the baton to the next season of the year and returns to the place where it goes after it finally leaves us here. The seasons' dance continues and it wouldn't bother me a bit if Spring wanted to "cut in" before its due time. It is definitely time to change partners in that dance :) Never have I been a cold weather person and I surely am not crazy about snow but I have survived here in a state known for those kinds of things and all in all, it's been ok.

The passage of "nine months" is starting to take on a whole new meaning here in our family these days. Any time now, we expect to get the call from our son and daughter-in-law on Whidbey Island to let us know that their little one has arrived. No one knows if it is a boy or a girl, but whether it be "Simon James" or his little sister, everyone will rejoice in the safe delivery of a healthy Miller baby. I remember fondly the first time I met Angie when Ricky brought her by my house on East 14th Street back in Hutchinson. It was over 3 years ago and they were on their way to the Kansas State Fair, only 5 blocks north of where I lived. I knew from the first time I was introduced to her that she would be the woman that he would marry. It was a "thank you God" kind of moment because I could tell within the first 5 minutes that she was a kind, loving and most sincere person. Those two "kids" will be fine parents and as it is with all first babies, there will be plenty of lessons to learn about raising children. Life is not easy but they will make it because of one thing.....they love each other.

Just a few days back, Mike and I marked our own version of "nine months" as we celebrated the fact that it was the mark of nine months' passage of our marriage to one another. Our first few months have not been easy and it is no secret to say that we have had to work hard to make it together. What we thought would be a "piece of cake" has proven to be totally the opposite for us sometimes. Friends, I tell you the truth when I say that more than once, especially in the early days of this new life, I was ready to go back to Kansas. Seriously, no kidding. But we hung in there together and made it because of one thing only.....we love each other.

Perhaps the biggest part of the problem for me was the fact that I didn't know how to call this new state of Colorado my home. Hey, I have to tell you that when I first came here and saw all of the mountains that I thought it was some of the most beautiful scenery there ever had been. It was a great place to visit and I proved it by coming out here to the Western Slopes every month until Mike and I got married on May 21st. Then two days later, we packed up all of my things and moved me here to stay and that's when the realization sunk in, and oh how I hate to hear it sometimes, "You're not in Kansas any more Peggy." I had retired from teaching (again), gotten married and moved away from my lifetime home all in one fell swoop. When reality sunk in for me, it was pretty much devastating. How on earth could I make it here?

I was my own worst enemy in those early days of June and July as my homesickness nearly did me in, time and time again. I had few friends here and had no idea of how to meet anyone new. My bike, which I had ridden thousands of miles back in Kansas, sat idle on the front porch. My good friend Leroy referred to it as its "slothful state" and he was right. Thank goodness for Facebook and its ability to keep me connected to the world I once knew and for the prayers of all the people who knew that I was having quite a time getting used to life here. I've gone back to reread some of the blog posts that I made in those early hours and days. I have to admit they kind of reflect the extreme sadness that I was feeling but I am glad that I wrote them. It's been a blessing to reread those posts from last summer and to see just how far that I have come. I'm 100 percent better today than I was then and perhaps I have yet a ways to go but I am just about positive that I will make it. I have never given up trying although I have been close to it at times. It seemed as though when I was at my lowest of moments, God intervened and gave me that proverbial "whack upside the head" that He has so often done and delivered the message to me that said, "You will make it here for I am with you wherever you may be." I take much solace in knowing that and it brought me out of the deep valley that I often times found myself in.

You know, when a person moves away from a place they have known for so long, they have to leave a lot of folks behind them. Back in south central Kansas are a lot of good friends and most of my family. I do miss them, without a doubt, and I will always remain most grateful for the time that I spent with them. The gifts of their presence will forever be stored away in this Kansas farm girl's heart. Never will I forget them and there is nothing that can stand in the way of our always being close to one another. 611 miles is just that, a short distance. Did you just feel that Kansas? It was a hug from me to YOU.

But the most interesting and welcome thing has begun to happen to me here in this place called Colorado. I felt it coming on several weeks back yet I was afraid to say too much for fear that I was wrong. No, I need to say that a different way, "for fear that I would have to admit it." I have begun to see that this new place in my life is actually an "ok" place to be. The dear and loving husband that I have kept encouraging me all along saying, "It's ok to take baby steps." It would appear that he was right. My life here in a place that I once considered most foreign has been filled with the blessings of new friends and different purposes. It was no accident that two kids from the "land of long ago, and far, far away" would meet up with one another after the passage of 4 decades of time. It was in God's plan all along that I should not be a retired teacher in Kansas but rather come to teach this year in a wonderful school called Olathe Elementary. What more does He have in store for me here? Hard to say but whatever it is, I say "I am ready for it."

Here's how I have come to see it, 9 long months into this incredibly life changing journey that I embarked upon~There is beauty everywhere you look in this life of ours, whether it be the plains of Kansas or the majestic mountains of Colorado. As for me, when I doubt the reasons, the purpose of my being in one place or another, I look to the "Big Guy" and know who truly is in charge of the whole thing in the first place. I'm a flatlander and a transplant from Kansas but I already feel my roots finally beginning to take hold in the soil of this place that I now call my home. Friends and family in Kansas and friends and family in Colorado-thank you for helping me to get to where I am this good day. It wasn't an easy journey but "whew" I think I have finally made it.