Things have been a little crazy in the Creighton household this past week; the head coach at CU was fired. The University hasn't hired a new coach yet. I have no idea when that will be. I have no idea who that will be. In the meantime, we wait in limbo and try to make preparations for the next chapter of our lives...whatever that may be.
All this change has got me thinking about the past four years of our life together. It has certainly been a whirlwind, but they have been the best four years of my life. Lets take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
Flashback to December 2006.
Paul and I were in our fifth year at CU. He had just finished his last season as a football player and we were getting ready to graduate at the end of the month; me with a degree in communication and him in psychology. With graduation and the "real world" looming, we went for a long walk one night to discuss our plans for the future. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him and I knew he felt the same. The question was, where and doing what. Paul was thinking he would like to try his hand at coaching college football and I was thinking about getting a job in marketing or PR. One thing we knew for certain is that we didn't want to stay in Colorado; we were ready to move. So we made a pact: we would both apply for jobs and whoever got one first, would take it, and the other would come along for the ride.
Second week of January 2007.
Paul went down to the American Football Coaches Association Conference in San Antonio in hopes of meeting some coaches and handing out a few resumes. Meanwhile, I
partied it up with my friends worked on my own resume. He ended up scoring an interview with the head strength coach for Auburn. He arrived on a Friday, interviewed that night, and on Saturday morning he called me with some pretty shocking news, "We're moving to Auburn!" He had landed a job as a graduate assistant in strength and conditioning for the Auburn University football team. Coach needed him to start in one week.
WHA?! WHERE'S AUBURN?
A week later we were packing up all our belongings and heading down to Auburn, Alabama. We had never been to AL. We did not know a single soul there. It was terrifying and exciting all at once. But it was the start of our life together and it was the best thing that ever happened to us.
Fall 2008.
We had been living in Auburn for almost two years now and had become quite comfortable and happy with our life there, but we were itching to move again. I was getting bored with my job as a real estate agent and Paul would be graduating with his Masters in December. Once he graduated, his position as a GA would be up. We started to discuss what was next for us. Paul was fairly certain that he wanted to make a departure from strength and conditioning and move into more of a coaching role, but this would require him to do another GAship. We were so confused! What was the right move for us? We went back and forth so many times. After a lot of talking, pondering, and PRAYING about it, we decided to make another pact: Paul would put all his effort into nabbing a coaching GAship, and if at the end of February he came up empty handed, he would quit coaching all together and move on to something else.
December 2008.
Paul had graduated and had some time off, so we decided to go back home to Boulder for two weeks over Christmas. We often talked about what it would be like to move back to Boulder and how fun it would be to live near our families and friends again. While we were there, Paul had lunch with the defensive coordinator for CU. Coach had heard through the grapevine that Paul was looking for a new job. After lunch, Paul called me. He said the lunch went well, but he got the sense they were interested in someone else for the position. Oh well. We had practically put it out of our minds until two weeks later, on our last night in Boulder before we went back home to Auburn, Paul got a phone call. Coach offered him the position as the defensive GA. My first thought was,
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I mean it was so bizarre. I really thought I was ready to leave Auburn, but as soon as it became official, I was so sad! I automatically started thinking about everything I loved about Auburn and how much I would miss it. Two weeks later, we were packing up and moving across the country once again.
November 2010
And now here we are again. We've been living in Boulder for almost 2 years and it's been absolutely wonderful. We've really enjoyed living close to so many of our friends and family, but I've noticed myself entering that familiar territory again...telling myself I'm ready to move, ready for the next step. It's so hard to be patient when we don't know if we'll be moving, when it will happen, where we will go. There are so many things to consider and stress out about, but this time around I'm really trying to enjoy every moment because I know too well that soon this chapter will be over, and I will miss it.
If there is one thing that these past four years have taught me, it's that life seldom works out the way you think it will, but it always works out the way it's supposed to. I have faith in God's plan for me and Paul and am so excited to see what He has in store for us!
And don't worry, as soon as I find out what that is, you'll be the first to know ;)
