Addison & Jace ::: en route

So I started my job this week.  And I love it!  Really, I do.  I’ve acquired the position of Universal Banker at US Bank in Parker, CO.  I’m a banker, not a teller, so that’s definitely a step up.  It’s also a step up in pay grade, and the bonuses are much better!  Plus I’m doing stuff I actually want to do!  Making sales calls.  Opening accounts.  Closing loans.  Yup.  I can do it all!  (Well, not yet, I’ve got LOTS of training to do!)

I start some of that training on Tuesday.  As a Universal Banker, I’ll also be able to run a teller window to help out when we get busy.  That’s great, and I’m really excited about being able to know the bank so thoroughly, however, it means that I have even more training!  I think it will end up being a little over 4 weeks in classes, not to mention tons of on-the-job training and even more WBT (web-based training.)

With all of the working and training and commuting, last week was pretty rough on us.  Jess is used to me taking her to work in the morning, after I’ve made her breakfast and lunch, of course.  Then I’d come home and take the pup on a long walk in the park, and then I’d have the rest of the day to do 4 chores.  How awesome was that?  Because I had so much free time, I was in charge of all household duties.  Grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, making sure the car had gas, everything.  So when Jess got home we got to hang out, talk, and just relax.

My amazing job is in a town called Parker.  Parker is southeast of Denver, and it takes me about 40 minutes to get there.  So now I leave the house at 8:20 and don’t get home until 7.  Leaving at 8:20 is not a problem, but getting home at 7 sucks.  By the time I get home, I’m exhausted and starving, and since we didn’t have an food at the house, we ate out a lot.  And it was gross.  Way too much fast food.  Yucka.

Jess has been working a lot this past week, too.  With the election two days away, the whole One Colorado crew has been super busy.  There have been events, press conferences, canvases, and phone banking to name a few.  And my girl launched a website this week.  Seriously.  How awesome is my girl?  She’s been going in early, since I’ve been waking her up early, and then she’s been working late because I can’t pick her up until late.  And every night this week she’s brought her laptop home and done even more work.  Seriously.

Anyway, we’ll be better off this week.  We have one week under our belts, and we spent this whole weekend preparing for no time after work this week.  I’ve got groceries, my apartment is clean, and my wife and dog know what to expect.  And as crazy busy this week has been, we’re loving it!  Jess loves her job, and I love mine, too.  Things are really looking up for us, especially professionally!

~Addison

It’s been ages since I’ve actually written a blog post. It’s because life in Colorado started off very fast and a bit out of control for me because I started work only two days after our arrival. Fortunately, my lovely wife has kept you informed about our travels and the beginnings of our life in the wild, wild west.

But here is my perspective in an easy numbered format.

1.  The trip out was long but exciting. I loved driving through states that I have never visited. Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas. They were all beautiful in their own way, though, admittedly, some more so than others. It would have been awesome if we could have taken our time and actually spent time in some of the great cities we drove through, but we had to stay on schedule to make it to Colorado in time for my first day at work.

2.  Finally arriving in Denver was amazing. It was incredible leaving the Eastern Plain part of the Colorado to enter the Front Range region because the view changed from flat plains for as far as the eye can see to gorgeous mountains off in the distance. Just as an FYI, Colorado is broadly divided into three regions: the Eastern Plain (very rural area where farmers live), the Front Range (the area that contains the three biggest cities in CO: Denver, Ft. Collins, and Colorado Springs, all of which line the Rockies), and the Western Slope (rural, mountainous area that can be tough to get to from Denver in the winter because of all the snow).

3.  Getting settled into our Denver apartment wasn’t quite as smooth as I’d hoped. Our furniture and boxes didn’t arrive until a few days after we did so we were left sleeping on an air mattress for several nights. Once the boxes finally arrived, our place was a huge mess as we (more Addison than me, though) tried to unpack 1200 square feet worth of stuff into 640 square feet worth of space.

4.  Now that we’re all settled in, our apartment really feels like home. It’s small and cozy, especially compared to our 3-bedroom house, but we don’t need a lot of space. Addison did a wonderful job decorating and making the place look nice so it doesn’t feel like we’ve given anything up in moving from our old house to our new apartment. Plus, there are some really great things about our apartment. I love our stained concrete floors, our huge shower / bath tub, and very close underground parking. I also really love our “walk out.”  What I mean by “walk out” is that we have a door in our apartment that leads outside. Because we have it, we can enter and exit our apartment without having to walk through the halls of our complex. This makes our place feel a lot less like an apartment and a lot more like a cozy little house.

5.  Our apartment is in City Park South, a very cool neighborhood of Denver. We’re close to downtown (where the Rockies play and a lot of other exciting things happen like concerts and events), and we’re also very close to Capitol Hill and Uptown, the gay neighborhoods with all the bars we like to frequent. Perhaps the best part is our proximity to City Park; it’s the biggest and, arguably, the best park in Denver. We love walking around its pond and letting Izzie run and play. According to an article I read recently, City Park South is the new “it” neighborhood—with a lot of growing diversity because it’s close to the park and to great restaurants and shops.

6.  As many of you know, my job offer to work at One Colorado, a statewide LGBT political advocacy organization, was one of our primary reasons for moving. And I’m so very happy to say that I absolutely LOVE my job. For years, I said that working at a LGBT organization was what I wanted to do, and I was right. I am so passionate and energized about my work. I get up in the morning and am excited about getting to work. And I don’t even mind the work I have to do sometimes on the weekends and in the evenings.

7.  At my job, in just a month and a half at my job, I have written an op-ed on anti-LGBT bullying in schools; organized a campaign to gather over 1,500 signatures on a petition calling on a US Senate candidate to retract the awful stuff he said about gay people; and planned the roll-out, strategy, and messaging of a political campaign that we’ll launch in January. This is the work I’d been dreaming about doing for years. I’m involved in work that will make a difference in mine and Addison’s lives and in the lives of all LGBT Coloradans. It’s incredibly important, and I feel so lucky to be doing it.

8.  Addison and I are making a lot of great friends here in Denver because we’re so involved in the community. My job requires that we attend a variety of events, and recently, we’ve attended a meet and greet with a Democratic US Senate candidate, a “Transgender 101″ meeting, and a number of political rallies and gatherings. If we were home-bodies in Columbia, we are far from it here in Denver. And we’re loving it. Being out and about is helping us meet people and get plugged into wonderful Denver. We already have as many friends here as we had in Columbia!

9.  If you read our blog regularly, you know that we recently took a little road trip to Boulder (a great, bohemian town) and to the Rocky Mountains National Park, and it was incredible, amazing, sensational. Seriously, the Rocky Mountains are gorgeous. I can’t wait to go back and hike, ski, and just explore. When people talk about Colorado being beautiful, this is what they’re talking about—the Rockies. It’s spectacular.

10.  Addison and I are so happy here in Denver.  But the hardest thing about living in Colorado is being far from family. We really miss our parents, our siblings, and our nephews, and it’s tough to not be able to see them. It’s going to get even harder because we won’t be able to travel to South Carolina for Thanksgiving or Christmas because Addison can’t get any time off from her new job. The holidays are going to be pretty tough and lonely, but we’re hoping to make some fun plans (like snow skiing on Christmas) for staying around here to distract us. We’ll see…

-Jess

You’re going to think we’re crazy. And we won’t disagree.

You’re going to think we’re really dumb. And we won’t blame you.

You’re going to think we’re seriously the two most confused and most confusing people you’ve ever known. And we’ll admit we probably are.

We’re moving. Again.

I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t you guys just move to Asheville? And didn’t you just come back to Columbia after moving to Asheville and tell us all that you’re sticking around?

Yes. Yes, we did.

But, yes, we’re moving again.

Do you think we’re nuts? So do we.

But we’re moving anyway. And this time we’re going big.

We’re moving to Denver, Colorado.

Take a moment. Let the news sink in. Shake your head, scream if you want. Wonder why we’re freaking crazy people. Ask yourself why you decided to be a family member / friend / colleague / acquaintance of two absolutely idiotic lesbians like us. Consider if it’s worth all this stress and aggravation. It probably isn’t.

Now, let me explain as best as I can. Addison and I were not looking to leave. Back when we moved to Asheville, we wanted to move. In fact, we wanted to move to Asheville. We liked the mountains and the community, and we thought we’d like living there so I looked for a job there. We wanted to move; we found a way to do it; we did it; nothing worked out; we came home.

Today’s story is a little different. The wife and I weren’t really looking to move; I mean, we hadn’t committed to living in Columbia for forever and ever, but we had just returned from Asheville and were ready to take things easy, at least for a little while. Addison was loving life as a teller at Wachovia; I was working for myself as a freelance consultant, and I had both a long-term contract and several short-term projects. Things were good.

But then they got great. I was offered a job as Online Communications Manager at One Colorado in Denver.

This opportunity came a bit out of the blue; I was talking with the organization about a short-term freelance contract, and then things moved to the next level. And, my friends, let me tell you, this is my dream job. One Colorado is Colorado’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) equal rights organization; they work day in and day out to advance equality for GLBT individuals and couples in the state. And now I’m a part of the team.

If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you probably remember that I have interviewed with a GLBT organization before. That opportunity didn’t go my way. But this one did. Finally. After almost two years of wishing, wanting, and hoping, I have landed a job at a GLBT organization. I am now a career activist. My work will make a difference.

I am so incredibly excited.

I’m also really terrified. We’re moving far away from the city we know. We’re moving far away from our family and friends. We’re moving again…so soon after the epic fail that was “the Asheville plan.”

But we can’t let fear control our dreams. Working at a GLBT organization is my dream, and if I don’t go for it, I’ll regret it forever. No matter how scared we are about missing all that we’re leaving behind, we must move forward.

So we’re plowing ahead into a world of not-yet-figured-out details. All we know is that I will have a job and that we will be living in Denver. The rest remains to be figured out. Where will Addison work—can she just transfer to another branch within Wachovia / Wells Fargo, or will she have to launch another job search? What will we do with our house in Columbia? What kind of apartment will we get in Denver? Do we need two cars or one in a city like Denver? How do we sell all the furniture that we really don’t need?

Big questions, big stress, big excitement.

Everyone we talk to seems to express a mixture of sadness and excitement. They’re sad we’re leaving but happy for us and our new adventure. And the one thing everyone seems to say: “You’re really going to love Denver.”

We think so. We hope so.

Stay tuned to this blog as we work out the details of our move, pack our shit and haul it across the country, and start a new life in the wild, wild west.

-Jess