2023: A Leap into a New Life

As I was bracing myself in the rear of a fixed-wing Flight for Life staring at my two week old son hooked up to numerous wires laying in a transport ventilator, I felt numb. The vibration of the plane was so loud everyone wore noise cancellation headphones and the flight crew had to scream to communicate. I watched as the neonatal nurse took my son’s vitals every ten minutes and recorded the numbers. All I could think was, “is my son going to live?”

Our son, Woods, had contracted Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome between 12-14 days of life. We were in and out of the ER in our home town of Montrose, Colorado before the head of pediatrics sent us on a Flight for Life flight to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. A multiple day scare turned into a week experiencing the greatest care at Children’s. As Nolan and I sat in our hospital room each day, carefully watching the progress of our two week old son’s infection, we simultaneously experienced deep life reflection. The result of this reflection overall: Family is everything. The time spent, your example, your love, the priorities you instill and the habits you teach…is everything.

Woods was ultimately taken off IV antibiotics and successfully discharged. The discharge felt symbolic of the stage in our journey we were on. It was time to take a step back and embrace what we were being pulled to do.

Ever since we made the move to Montrose during the summer of 2022 our life has been on a very different trajectory. We have been strongly pulled to a slower, more intentional life both personally and professionally. This slowing down and shift to a slower, more intentional life both as individuals and a family has led us to be an even closer family unit, with such a deep appreciation and understanding of life. This road we are on we never fathomed we would be, but we are embracing the days chasing elk, hiking, homeschooling, storing food from our garden, loving on our animals, being together and LIVING LIFE.