Trusting The Journey | Erin Furtado | 4-2025

In 2010, my boyfriend (who later became my husband) and I made a decision that would shape the next decade of our lives. Rather than continue our long-distance relationship—he was a subcontractor working on location for weeks at a time—we decided to get a place together. I packed up my apartment in downtown Denver and moved to the suburbs so that when he came home, he had a place to stay with me and park the travel trailer instead of crashing an hour away. We spent about a year there before deciding to take things a step further—I would travel with him so we could be together full-time. So, for the next two years, we adventured and lived all over the Southwest—Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Arizona—while we saved up to get our own place. We ended up with a 14 acre farm in southeast Colorado.

That farm became our world. During the next 10 years, we homesteaded, built a farm business, and homeschooled our son. Despite all my efforts, I struggled to get my nutrition business off the ground. I also never truly loved the area, and as our son got older, the lack of opportunities for his growth became more apparent. We started talking about moving. At first, the plan was to return to my home state of Michigan, where I had taken a remote position as a Nutrition Therapist at a wellness center. But that opportunity fell apart quickly. It was during this time that I discovered Listening to Smile, a pivotal shift in my life and it planted a seed in me about the power of frequency and alignment.

Later, we discussed my husband working with his brother-in-law in Denver, and I started looking for jobs too. I had a few offers and ultimately accepted a well-paying position with benefits working as the Assistant Director of a school-age enrichment program in a large school district. It seemed like the right move for our family. I left in January 2024 to start the job, and my husband and son followed a month later after prepping the farm for renters (which, as it turns out, also recently fell apart—but that’s another story for another day…)

In the beginning, it felt like everything was aligning. Coincidentally, I was placed at a school right down the street from the little house we had rented 15 years prior, my son started to attend the school I worked at and my husband started his new job with his brother in law. But as time passed, I realized I wasn’t cut out for working in the education system anymore. The split shifts, the changes in school environments since I had last worked in them nearly 20 years prior, and the challenges of securing childcare made me seriously question whether we had made the right decision.

It was during this time, heartbreak hit. Our beloved 11-year-old Irish Setter, Murphy, who had been with us since the start of the farm and was actually a wedding present to ourselves, declined rapidly. We had to make the gut-wrenching decision to let him go. On top of that, my husband’s relationship with his brother-in-law soured, and he ended up leaving that job.

Shortly after, I left my job and took another position within the school district because it allowed me to have the same schedule as my son. I spent every spare moment applying and interviewing for jobs in holistic health—ones that seemed promising but kept falling apart.

And then, another devastating loss. My soul cat Patchouli of 14 years took a sudden turn for the worse. Losing him crushed me. I remember thinking, “What the actual FUCK? Did we just bring our fur babies here to die?!” Losing them both within months of each other and less than a year since we moved made me question everything. I was confused, grieving, and completely lost.

Financial stress piled on. My husband was frustrated that I had left the well-paying job so quickly, but I couldn’t stay—it was literally draining my soul. The other job within the school district, which I hoped was a better fit, came with a huge pay cut. And it turned out to be even worse than the last job. I saw firsthand the state of public education, and let’s just say…it was eye-opening in the worst way. Between the financial stress, job disappointments, and grief, I felt like I was at my absolute lowest. I was drowning in regret and guilt.

By November 2024, I was desperate for a change. I had submitted countless applications, heard back from some, and been ghosted by many. One morning, my son wasn’t feeling well, and I was quick to let him stay home so I could stay home too. I sat down at my computer to job hunt once again and decided to follow up on a few applications I hadn’t heard back from. One response came immediately, but their hours had changed and wouldn’t work for me. Then, a few hours later, another email arrived. The woman on the other end seemed genuinely excited to talk and apologized for missing my application. We set up a virtual interview for the next day, and then she invited me to shadow at the office. I wasn’t supposed to come in until the next Monday, but she reached out again and asked if I could come that afternoon instead. The next day, I quit my school district job, the Thursday before Thanksgiving break because I told myself even before the possibility of this new job, “I am NOT going back after the break.” When Thanksgiving break started, I officially started my new job. And everything changed.

This job saved my mental and physical health. I was at my breaking point, feeling like I had made the biggest mistake uprooting our lives. It was one negative thing after another. But this opportunity fell into place effortlessly, and for the first time in a long time, things felt right. I finally understood why my nutrition business never took off—I needed the right environment to apply my skills. Now, I get to bring my expertise into an already successful business where I’m valued and appreciated. And the weirdest part? The owners—a doctor and his wife—are amazing like minded people. One day, the wife and I were chatting, and she casually mentioned her mother’s maiden name. I laughed and said, “That’s my maiden name!” She smiled and said, “Well, that explains why we get along so well!”

Before leaving the farm, I remember talking with a friend about the huge change I was about to embark on. I said, “change is scary, but so is staying the same and if I don’t do this, I’ll always wonder, what if?” If I hadn’t taken that risk to uproot everything, my family and I wouldn’t be where we are now. My son is thriving, making huge progress in school, excelling on his swim team, and finally surrounded by opportunities that were lacking before. My husband, who was initially apprehensive about leaving the farm, now feels rejuvenated in this new chapter of our lives. And one last twist of fate: The Friday after I quit my school job, I stopped by the pet store to grab crickets for our bearded dragon. I glanced at the cats up for adoption, scanning the bottom row first. Cute, but nothing clicked. Then, I looked up. At the top row, I locked eyes with a cat and I knew instantly. I came back the next day to adopt him, and from the moment he arrived home, it was like he had always been with us. From day one, it was like he knew. My soul cat had returned. The pet store didn’t have much info for me on where and how he came to the rescue but looking at the paperwork, I saw that he was found on the day I had to say goodbye to my sweet Patchouli.

Life has a funny way of guiding us exactly where we need to be—even when we can’t see it at the time. It wasn’t what I planned. It wasn’t easy. But it was alignment.