It is widely agreed that the Covid-19 pandemic impaired our ability to track the passage of time. Well, here’s proof: I haven’t posted to this blog since, um, ’19, after Tim’s kidney transplant. Lots of life has been lived since then, so it’s time to bring you up to date with a few highlights.

Tim continues to rock right along with his new kidney. And our friend Dana, the living donor, is doing great too.

Covid happened, and is still happening. We both made it until mid-2022 before testing positive. We’ve had our vaccines and multiple boosters so our symptoms were mild and recovery swift. We continue to be cautious and wear masks in situations that look and feel risky.

We both had major career changes in 2021. After almost ten years with Devon Energy, Tim said goodbye in July of 2021 and hasn’t looked back. His transition from working full-time for 38 years was smooth. He is enjoying reading for pleasure and has started writing some stories for his grandkids. I said goodbye to the classroom I loved for 9 1/2 years at OU and scaled way back on consulting. I’m still doing what I call “light” consulting with a few clients/missions that bring me joy and keep me sharp.

As we were anticipating these career changes in 2021, we sold our home and sold or donated about 80% of all our stuff. We walked through every room and did our best Marie Kondo. We found that the majority of things didn’t bring us joy, so onto new adventures. We went from two cars to one mid-size SUV, rented the smallest storage unit for the things we wanted to keep, and started on a journey to find our next home, wherever the wind took us. I like themes and titles so we decided to call this next phase in our lives “The Aspen Project,” knowing we would likely end up living in the U.S. Mountain West, where aspen trees grow.

After a few days of celebrating and saying “so long for now,” we made our way to Santa Fe. We’ve spent countless long weekends and vacations here through the years and thought this would be the perfect first stop for two weeks. Then we would spend time in the areas of Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Breckenridge to see if anything stuck. You’ve probably heard that saying abou making plans so God can show you who is really in charge.

On our second morning here, our son called to share the news that our granddaughter, 2 1/2 years old at the time, had been diagnosed with kidney cancer and they were leaving for St. Jude in Memphis. With Covid, we couldn’t be with them as Mary Emma had surgery so we finished our time in Santa Fe and then headed to Missouri to meet them when they arrived back home.

UPDATE: Mary Emma is doing great. She turned four on October 13 and is making a return visit to St. Jude next week for a check-up. Also, Mary Emma has a sister! Vivian Grace Hartley was born during the time warp, December 2020. She is 2! What a blessing those precious girls are to our family!

Time-traveling back to 2021, we came to the decision that Santa Fe is where we wanted to be. Our Realtor ramped up our search, and it took us to an area we didn’t even know existed. On our first visit to the Rancho Viejo neighborhood at the southern edge of Santa Fe, we fell in love with the stunning vistas of four mountain ranges, miles of paved trails for walking and biking, and low-maintenance properties that make it easy to “lock and leave” as we travel. It’s all in the classic adobe Pueblo style, yet also in a planned neighborhood that isn’t typical of what we call “Scruffy Old Santa Fe.” We downsized in square footage but totally upsized in lifestyle.

We closed on our new home, a townhouse, on October 5, 2021, and then pulled up with a moving truck the night of October 14. It took a while to truly get settled and make it feel like home. We had two of our bathrooms remodeled in early 2022 along with some kitchen upgrades. We continue to tweak things but now can say it is our home. We’ve had lots of friends and family visit and look forward to hosting more.

2022 was definitely a year of travel, especially for Covid-delayed weddings. We happily celebrated five couples from Houston to Olympia, WA to Tulsa to Charlottesville, VA. Bonus: A destination wedding came here to Old Santa Fe!

We bought new skis, boots and season passes, and picked our spots to enjoy the best sun-and-snow days with the smallest mid-week crowds at Ski Santa Fe. We had ski trips to Utah and Colorado, too. Life is good!

As we begin 2023, our biggest news is that our daughter is expecting. Our grandson should make his arrival in early February and we are all excited.

That pretty much catches you up on all the exciting things to date. Our plan is to start posting on a regular basis and invite friends and family to follow our adventures.