California, Once Home
Reflections.
We moved back home in June, and yesterday at a birthday party my friend Sarah asked if we miss California. Something about that conversation stayed with me, and with the kids off with their grandparents today, I finally had the space to sit with it. After months of settling in - new jobs, new routines, and being more present for family during a season that’s asked for it - life has finally slowed enough to reflect. With our house in California sold and five months of distance, this is what rises to the surface.
Setting Intentions Work. I remember in December of 2024, we were at a museum with the kids and I was reading about how kelp is strong yet flexible, swaying with the current instead of competing with it’s force. This was also something I saw first hand while diving in Monterey - so it really resonated with me.
Something in my spirit knew that 2025 was going to be a challenging year, and I too would need to re-strengthen my base to allow everything else to go with the flow. This mindset got me through Freya’s RSV hospital stay, and the following five months where we wrapped up our lives in California and moved back home to Colorado.
Looking back, I wish I had written more while we were in the thick of the move. Moving cross-country is already a logistical mess, but layering it with the emotions of leaving a place you once thought would be your forever home hits differently. Still, that period reminded us of the kind of courage it takes to let go of one life and build another.
The Courage to Start Over. We knowingly traded stability for a chance to start over, and that’s a huge risk. But once you’ve proved to yourself that you can rebuild, you carry that courage with you. California gave us that - it showed me we have the grit to begin again and the willingness to take a leap when something in us says go. But even courage has its limits without the right people around you, and we were never doing any of this alone.
The People Who Carried Us. Some moments just stick with you. The covid pod that formed in our neighborhood felt like a lifeline - a tiny circle that kept us sane during a time that felt like pure survival. Developing a freediving crew with Rebekkah & Effie. Friends who watched Marley while we gave birth to Freya. Jenn showing up with dumplings at the NICU. Colleagues who became real friends. The trips, the adventures, the open-door invitations to family homes during the holidays. All of it. I’m grateful for every relationship that stretched my heart and taught me something new.
There are so many meaningful moments that didn’t make it into these photos, but this is a glimpse into the final months before we moved back home - and the joy we felt with those we cared for deeply.
