We're almost half way through 2011 which marks my 9 month anniversary in Chicago. As you know it's been a wonderful and rocky road. While I'm confident my move to Chicago was the right one and Devra is the right woman for me, it's been a huge year for change.
Change, as a word, is fairly innocuous. We change all the time whether we realize it or not. In fact, each day in and of itself is a change we all experience and none of us can do anything about. The change happens. Some days we approach with fear. Others with exhileration. Regardless, these changes happen and we typically take them in stride and build them into our day in the least disruptive way possible.
Over the past 9 months I've experienced close to as much change as any one person should experience in that amount of time. On the surface the change felt straight forward. Yet, over the past 9 months, the journey has been anything but. My life, as I knew it back in Minnesota, no longer exists. The active triathlete who had his entire life in control from sun up to sun down has had a very long, drawn out and painful death.
None of this was anticipated. I took the word "change" to be the benign form. How much impact could moving to a new city have? How much impact could a new job have? What's the problem with moving in with your significant other? How much extra work is getting a dog?
The answer? A LOT! A lot more than I ever anticipated. Enough change to necessitate the death and rebirth of my life. At this point, after 9 months, I feel comfortable saying that it's now time to pick up some of the pieces that make sense, leave the rest behind and find out how to become an active, healthy, happy triathlete in this city with a fiancee, puppy and a pile of great friends. Now that I've finally had my full breakdown and partial recovery it's time to find that answer.
