Settling into my new home

The day after arriving in Denver, my father and I unloaded the moving truck and started the process of unpacking boxes. We made a couple gargantuan trips to the Super Target, located just a 5-minute drive away, to stock my new home with the essentials for living.

We also explored my new neighborhood, which is a 1950's track home development that is blue collar and for the most part well maintained. Families sit in rockers and benches on the front porch in the evenings, and kids ride their bikes and play ball in the streets. There's a shopping center just a half-mile away, well within walking distance: King Soopers (super market), Ace Hardware, post office, a really good Mexican food restaurant, a thrift store, a liquor store, a carniceria (Mexican meat store), a Spanish language movie theater, and all other sorts of goodies.

My mom flew out the next day and helped my father and me with other aspects of settling in, like putting things away in the proper place and making the house feel more like a home. Most importantly, she brought my cat Ollie, who is essential for my survival of these next four years. I know that, if I had to, I could have moved in by myself, but having both my mom and dad helping me made both the logistics and the emotions of this transition that much easier.

As difficult as it was to leave San Diego, I can see a new life - a good life - taking root for me here in Denver (or, more specifically, Aurora).