I was living in Denver, CO when I found out I was pregnant with Jack. Ash and I had moved out to Colorado because Ash was pretty nomadic and got bored rather easily with any one place. He had to get out. We started our Colorado adventure in Durango but after a few unfortunate events with a carbon monoxide detector, bitchy landlord and door kicking incident, we decided maybe Durango wasn’t the place for us (or maybe the fact that we were blacklisted and could not rent another place in town again after said door kicking incident had something to do with it).

Anyway, we decided to give Denver a try. I tell you, Denver was the coldest city I have ever been in in my entire life. Frigid. We rented a tiny little bungalow in South Denver because we were told it was the place to be in Denver. Best neighborhood, hands down, or so we were told. I think my favorite parts of the neighborhood were either the homeless “General” always planning his next battle in the park beside our house, the myriad of things that would disappear from our trash can at night, the den of foxes next door that screeched and mewed all night long or the dead body I got to see being wheeled out while taking my daily jog around the General, I mean park. Denver was not my favorite. I had a horrible job where one of my duties was to keep a homeless man from eating all the candy at the front desk. I shit you not.  Ash worked so far away he had to leave our house at 3:30 in the morning just to get to work on time. There was traffic for days. We lived above some girl that always came upstairs on Sundays and would never leave. We did meet one amazing couple that we are still in contact with, well I guess I should say I, I am still in contact with them. I’m not sure about Ash.

The point is, I had gotten to my breaking point in my relationship with Ash and Denver. I couldn’t figure out why I was there, what I was doing. I had left behind friends, family, a good job for what? My boyfriend was never around. I had very little in the way of friends. It was freezing. I didn’t find the locals to be all that friendly. And there were very creepy things always happening in my neighborhood. I started to pray for a sign. Please God, show me the way. Should I stay or should I go now? And boy did he give me a sign.

Be careful what you wish for, that’s all I gotta say! Or don’t because that sign is one of the best things in my life. I was sitting at work, guarding the candy from the homeless man, chatting with the girls. One of the girls said she thought she was pregnant. I said oh me too! We kind of laughed together. I told her if I was pregnant, I would not be coming to work tomorrow. (never mind the fact that the day before at work, I ran to the bathroom, threw up and blacked out for a minute or 2 – still wasn’t convinced).

I went home after work that day. Normal night. Got up the next morning and made a run to Target. I decided since I was there, my period was 2 weeks late and better just to double check, I’d get a pregnancy test. Now, I was still so confident that I was not pregnant that I also bought a 6 pack of beer, stopped at Chic Fil A on the way home and ordered the large coke. I got home. Peed on the stick. Put my groceries away. Checked the stick. Any my whole life changed in the blink of an eye. I burst into tears, and not tears of joy. The first person I called was my mom. I don’t know why but that’s all I could think about. I need my mom. Holy shit. What do I do? My mom was an angel. So loving and supportive and actually excited! Next I called Ash. I didn’t say anything other than you need to come home right now.

He was shocked when I told him the news. Had I messed up my pills? What happened? I didn’t have answers. I hadn’t messed up my pills! The only thing I had done was ask for a sign to direct me where to go. Well, I guess I got my damn sign, huh?

Jack was born several months later (9ish obviously) after a somewhat complicated pregnancy. We ended up leaving Denver and moving to Texas, just outside of Austin. We rented an apartment right across the street from the hospital just to be on the safe side. Ash worked at a golf course forever away. It wasn’t the smoothest transition from dating to married to parents. But it was worth every laugh, every tear, every hug, every yell, it was worth everything.

Jack was born after being induced into a very long and painful labor. He wasn’t breathing when he was born. The nurse beat the shit of him to set him straight (clearly hasn’t worked 😉 ). He looked like he had 2 heads, he was jaundice but he was perfect. He was clearly exactly where he was meant to be.

And that’s the thing about Jack – he’s our little miracle, our little unplanned, do things his own way, awesome, stubborn amazing miracle. He’s going to do big things one day. I can tell.