And we're off...

Greetings from Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA! Where they still wave ole glory down at the courthouse...sing along if you know the words. We arrived at my parents' house late last night and we'll spend the day lounging with family before leaving tomorrow morning for Estes Park. It's hard to imagine that we'll be at the ranch tomorrow night.

It was a ton of work, but with the help of family and friends we finally got our house renovated, packed, and cleaned - it really looks fantastic. I'm confident the first person to look at the house will buy it for our full asking price - and throw in a few thousand dollars just because. It was a little strange, but as we worked on the house these last two weeks, it didn't really feel like our house anymore. Our home had become a commodity - something to maximize - there was no emotion to it.

But as we walked through the house taking pictures and turning out lights, the emotion came. This was the house were Lynda and I shared our first kiss, where we first uttered the "L" word, where I proposed, where we spent our first married night, where we found out that Lynda is pregnant. This creaky, old house was our home. And it was hard to leave.

We locked the door, backed out of the driveway, and drove away for the last time. By the time we hit the beltway, our tears had dried and we were talking about Colorado and what it will be like there. Leaving is like that. We're sad to leave the life we know, but now that the journey has started, our minds turn quickly toward the life we will have.

That is why our eyes are in the front of our heads - so we can see where we are going, not where we have been.