One Year and One Day Later.....

Today is exactly one year and one day since we purchased Aspen Eyecare in Estes Park, Colorado.  We can’t help but reflect on all of the people that have supported us through this beautiful but challenging  year.  We have expanded our minds in ways that we never thought possible and are inspired by our surroundings and the many successes that keep us dreaming of bigger and better things for our family, business and this incredible community.
We started this morning off by eating cinnamon rolls (from Cinnamon’s Bakery – get them if you haven’t tried them already……yummy!) and enjoying coffee on our deck that overlooks the expanses of the Rocky Mountains.  It was a pleasantly cool morning and we were not tense or hurried one bit; just letting the possibilities of the remainder of the weekend take shape in front of us as we watched the occasional animal wonder through our yard.  This is a stark contrast to the obstacles that we were facing a little over a year ago.  It feels amazing to be at this point; knowing that the risk we took in selling a successful practice was the exact pivot we needed to improve and enrich our lives in ways that we didn’t even realize were possible at the time!
We have such gratitude to the patients and employees at our past eyecare practice – many of which remain dear friends.  We have longtime friends that have listened to countless hours of dreams, frustrations, ideas, disappointments and victories over the past year- we are sure that their ears are still hurting.  They have traveled with us, loved us like family, delivered tool chests, tools, provided endless feedback and now visit us in our new community to make us feel more at home.  Our family has also proved to be a great source of support during the past year.  The visits, phone conversations and help with our home have us feeling so very loved.  We have new friends in this beautiful community that were beyond gracious; opening their home to us for weeks on end with our two large furry pups, while waiting to move into our dream home.  This community has individuals that care enough to drive over and check on us when they cannot reach us by phone.  The type of people that not only do business with us but care about the state of our business and call just to make sure that we are going to survive this pandemic.  We are more than thrilled to report that we have also become debt free in the last year, running our business without debt gives us incredible freedom to look to help other local businesses and care for them – it’s just the Estes Park way of life! ……and we love it!
Our brains have been expanded on such amazing levels and we fear that we may not have the compacity to continue this crazy learning curve over the course of the next year.  We know SO much more about business, various wildlife, wood burning stoves, well water, working with your spouse, lens materials, vendors, shipping, contact lenses, billing, insurance, software, life coaches, coding, marketing, Covid, the strength of our relationships, frozen pipes, community, weeds, scheduling and mountain living than we ever thought possible.  With the foundation of all this new knowledge, we are looking forward to many exciting expansions in the coming year.  Maybe adding to our family (likely another furbaby….but who knows?!), we will definitely be adding to our business family as the current demand is just too much for Aaron and myself to handle on our own.  We have dreams of new frame lines, new technology and maybe even a new nonprofit venture in the works.  We look forward to adding sweat equity into our already cute cottage and sweating after work on countless hikes.   
This new practice adventure really has been the second-best decision that we have ever made – second only to us choosing each other!  We appreciate your love and support on this journey. We ask that you continue to dream big for your own lives and keep blessing us with your presence throughout our journey – we need it!  We Love it!
Much love and thanks,
Aaron and Amber