The Backstory...

To understand our Boulder experience it might help to give a little backstory...

I worked for two major sports leagues for the past 20 years. My life was a succession of long hours going project to project and then droughts in between where I could catch my breath. It also meant travel, a lot of it, especially in the last few years. That meant that my wife and young daughter only caught bits and pieces of my time. It was professionally fulfilling in many ways but at the same time it was not how I drew it up on the blackboard and certainly not how I wanted it to be for the next 10 years.

At the same time I have a love/hate relationship with New York. As I've gotten older and raised a family I loved the various things the city had to offer, but I detested the pace and the values that so many New Yorkers seem to have. And raising a family that last part became especially important to me. When I knew I was leaving my career I sat down and literally wrote out a list of what we wanted for our family if we were going to move. I'd lived around NY my entire life so this would be a monumental life change for all of us...

If we were going to do this we wanted a lot; a beautiful location, a progressive town, great schools, good restaurants, music and culture, a major university nearby and an active community. We wanted a place that was big enough not to be small town but small enough not to be big city. I went on so many websites doing research, I was on www.city-data.com constantly gathering info.

I had done a lot of work in Denver over the years so Colorado always intrigued me...and as a triathlete Boulder has a legendary reputation. So last December I sandwiched some work around a Boulder vacation and we spent 7 days here in the dead of winter. It was cold....10 degress most days....but I could picture us living in Boulder. The mountains were indescribably beautiful. Pearl Street was loaded with boutique shops gearing up for Christmas. There were yoga and pilates studios on every block. It felt big but small, homey yet progressive. I imagined cycling into the mountains when spring came. I think my wife and I knew we wanted to quit NY, knew we knew we wanted something different for our kids...I think we looked at each other and knew that we were going to give Boulder a shot.

The meek may inherit the earth someday but in my world it's only after the strong have had their way with it. I knew it was going to be a tough road to get to Boulder, but we were committed. I always kept in mind the alternative....talking to my kids in 10 years and telling them, "sorry we weren't strong enough to start a new life for ourselves in a better place..."

That wasn't going to happen.

8 months later we touched down in Denver, ready to start a new life at the foot of the mountains. I had no job....no job prospects to speak of...one friend who lived 15 minutes away...we had 100 reasons to do nothing and stay in NY, near family and friends. But for us it was time...it was as simple as that....there was no doubt in my mind we were doing the right thing...