Oh, Denver.

Colorado has become the California of my age group. It seems everyone I know wants to move there. The mountains, the attraction of young professionals thanks to new, developing companies, the flexible work atmosphere, the ability to be active outdoors much of the year, and of course, being able to find marijuana on nearly every corner easier than a Starbucks. What’s not to love?

About this time last year, I planned to move to Denver. I had a job interview lined up thanks to a few great friends. I had a place to crash until I found a place of my own. After literal years of trying to move to Denver, and a few flakey, shady companies later, I finally felt like things were lined up. I was itching to get out of Iowa, as that had always been my plan since the moment I fell in love with San Diego at the age of 10. California was ideal, but Colorado was more attainable.

And then, as life would have it, things changed. Very quickly.

In part, Denver served as a mecca of potentials: happiness, hopefully a more mature dating pool, mountains, better job opportunities, more temperate weather than Iowa while still having seasons, etc. Essentially, I created a Denver in my mind that may or may not actually exist.

What I got instead was a world full of opportunity, possibility, and happiness… and I never left Iowa.

The right “wrong things” happened at the right time, and as a result, I:

• met the love of my life
• secured a job doing work I’d been dying to do for years
• brought a perfect new furbaby into my heart and home
• made new friends who’ve introduced even more wonderful people into my framily
• met the perfect PT to diagnose the real problem with my body AND help me
• ended up with boundless opportunities for career growth

So how did it all happen?

Well, I met a boy.

I know, I know. Cliche, but true, and so so worth it.

For years, I’d been saying, “There’s just no one here for me. I’m not asking for a lot. I want someone who is kind, thoughtful, loyal, and trustworthy. Someone who would make a good teammate.” Really, honestly, NOT asking for a lot here.

And I know some of those types. I had many great guy friends, but none who sparked any romantic interest. And somewhere along the way, what I truly wanted somehow became perceived as having expectations that were too high, and that’s pretty defeating when you’re essentially just asking for someone to not be a fuckboy.

ANYWAY

I met this boy. And he was all that I had been looking for and more. He treated me well, he respected me, he went out of his way to be thoughtful, and for the first time in my entire dating history, I felt so safe and at ease. He was honest, sometimes bluntly, but I knew I would never have to question if I was getting the whole truth. It was refreshing, and I felt genuinely cherished. And man, I drank that Kool-Aid all up. His family was great, I liked his friends, he had a plan and was driven to succeed. Really, he checked more boxes than I had.

So, I decided to look for jobs. I had a few days left in the area before I was moving home for a few weeks to prep for Denver. I never expected to find anything, but I did. Immediately.

Ironically, the first job I applied for called me that same day. They wanted to interview me, and when I explained my timeline, they brought me in the next day. A few interviews later, I landed that job. And my plans changed.

Denver could have been great, but the job opportunity awaiting me there was not something I was diehard passionate about. It would have been fine, but the job I landed, in content creation, was something I was made for. I love to write. I’m a creative. I needed to be in a field like that.

So I ended up writing about tires. Not glamorous, but I told myself: If you can write about specialty tires, you can write about ANYTHING after this. And I was right.

I just landed a new job with a company in the tech industry, and boy, am I pumped to work there. The company culture is phenom, and it’s just been verified as one of seven Great Places to Work in Iowa, a title only achieved by high employee reported satisfaction. That’s high praise.

So while Denver is great – and it really is – Iowa has become even greater. All thanks to a little luck and a whole lot of love.

I say it all the time: Make “plans” in a general sense; have a picture of where you’d like to go, but be flexible in the details. Otherwise, you miss opportunities for better things to guide you toward absolute bliss.

HBIC,

Bossey Boots