After a quiet and restful New Year’s Eve, I greet 2025 with gratitude and enthusiasm. The last 12 months proved to be a bit of a whirlwind.

We started the year in our rental townhouse, feeling at loose ends while we contemplated where we’d spend the next chapter in our lives. January brought a snowpocalypse that blanketed the neighborhood with snowflakes atop a sheet of ice. But for the requirement of walking the dog, we stayed indoors. Even Brodie found our circumstances challenging as he couldn’t gain footing on the slick surface.

We thought we’d hit the housing jackpot in March when we found a home under construction in a nearby neighborhood. We loved the floor plan and got in on the deal in time to choose the interiors. A new road into the neighborhood would connect us to a shopping center, a fitness club, and medical offices. And we were both anxious to put down roots. It seemed perfect… until it wasn’t. The builder didn’t deliver on what they’d marketed, and we decided to take the financial hit and walk. It was the low point of the year as we thought: Now what do we do?

A dear friend invited us for a visit to Colorado and stay in her place while she traveled to Canada. We hadn’t seen her for several years, so the opportunity to catch up and check out another would-be homestead proved irresistible. And we’d benefit from her expertise as a veteran real estate agent. Long story short: We found the perfect house within 24 hours of touching down at Denver International Airport. Who knew?!?

Having closed on the property in late September, we set about the task of navigating the interstate move. We settled on U-Haul U-boxes as our means of transporting our stuff and had an outstanding experience with the two independent contractors who handled the physical move at both ends. The only minor inconvenience was the two-week transit time which passed pleasantly with family visits in Eagle, ID and Fort Collins, CO. Along the way, I cranked up the change-of-address machine which I’d grooved with our move the prior year and arranged for closing out utilities in one place and opening them up in another. But for some unpleasantness getting Internet service working, that aspect of the move proceeded smoothly. I’d worried about establishing relationships with doctors, but having a good friend in the area made that transition go much smoother than I’d anticipated. As of this writing, we’re all set!

We’ve made our new home in the Anthem Ranch 55+ community. It supports 1300+ homes, a 32,000 square foot lodge (pictured above) with a gaggle of amenities, 90+ social clubs, and nearly 50 miles of walking trails. In the not-quite-three-months that we’ve been here:

• We’ve met our neighbors and joined two neighborhood social groups.
• We established relationships with outstanding personal trainers, and my husband has found an exercise class that suits him to a tee. (The view of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains from the second story of the fitness center is breathtaking!)
• I’ve joined three dance classes – line dancing, tap dancing, and ballet for seniors – and will be teaching the beginning line dancing class in 2025.
• We’ve made friends through the Friday meditation group, and I’ll run sessions during the first three months of the year while our “snowbird leaders” are in Florida.
• I found a duplicate bridge partner who is as nice as she can be and an outstanding card player to boot.

And we’ve just gotten started exploring what the club has to offer!

We’ve also forged a lovely connection with my brother and his extended family (which has become OUR extended family). He and his wife were stellar helpers with the move, providing able assistance with unpacking, picture hanging, and odd jobs to fix the place up. We enjoyed marvelous holiday celebrations for Thanksgiving and Christmas and are heading up for New Year’s football and feasting today. We haven’t lived near one another since college, and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to make many new memories in the coming years.

We are so blessed. I can’t wait to see what 2025 will bring!