Full Speed Ahead

This time last year I was floating on Cloud Nine.  I had just finished a life-changing scavenger hunt that ended with Wes down on one knee asking me to marry him.  I honestly can’t believe how much our lives have changed since that moment.  

            Since then, we have moved to Kentucky, started new jobs, moved into our first home together, become an aunt and uncle, started grad school, not to mention planned (the majority of) our wedding…it’s all enough to make our heads spin.  And just when we thought things might be winding down, we decided to throw something else entirely new and exciting into the mix.  We decided to buy a house!  A beautiful house, perfect for our little family of two to grow into and fill with lots of love and laughter for the next 50 or so years.  We skipped right over “starter home” and decided to jump right in and buy our “forever home” instead.  Because when you know you have a forever kind of love, you pretty much need a forever kind of house to go with it, right?  I mean, Wes and I are nothing if not full speed ahead.  We fell quickly into an all consuming, “this-is-the-one” kind of love, so why should anything else be any different?  Life is just too short to over-think the best things, the things that make you the happiest. 

            I can’t wait to see what the next year of life has in store for us.  Maybe we will move into our new home and settle into life as husband and wife and just relax for a change.  But then again, knowing us, probably not... 

What's Behind You

          I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…I’m a better writer when I travel.  I’m more inspired.  I’m more focused.  My thoughts are clearer.  The physical action of moving on to a new place, and leaving a place behind makes my metaphorical wheels turn.  It allows me to put things into perspective.  To see things pass me by out the window and realize what I’ve left behind and where I’m going.  And, today, as we drive back to Kentucky from Florida, I am reminded of all the things we left behind 10 months ago when we left our Jacksonville home.  But I am also in awe of all the things we have gained, all the blessings we have received, by making the move to our new Kentucky home.  This week flooded my mind with memories of good times past, but it has also filled me with a new excitement and anticipation for all the good times to come. 

In the last week I’ve gotten to celebrate my upcoming wedding with my closest friends at my Bachelorette party, spend time with my parents and play mini golf at the same place I’ve played since I was four years old, and reunite with the city that brought me love.  Florida has so many places and people who have had such an impact on my life, and, to be honest, coming back for a week was very bittersweet.  Wes and I had a conversation on our drive to Jacksonville about how much we miss the city and the people we left there.  We allowed ourselves to “what if” for a while.  What if we hadn’t moved?  Where would we have lived?  Where would we be getting married?  Would we be happy?  We played out the scenarios together for a while, but, ultimately, we decided that our move to Kentucky was inevitable.  We were destined for it.  Whether it was in 2013 or 2014 or some other time.  Kentucky was our future.  When I close my eyes I can see it all very clearly.  Our wedding.  Our house.  Our kids.  Our whole future laid out in front of me on the path that we chose together.

Jacksonville was so many things for us. It was a place filled with great friendships, the irreplaceable kind.  The kind you have standing beside you when you say, “I do”.  It was a place where we found our footing in our careers.  Where doors opened up for us and we were able to make a difference in the lives of our students.  I will always think back on that year with my Kindergarteners with happiness in my heart.  Seeing them again this week only reaffirmed how much they changed me, how much they inspired me.  Finally, Jacksonville was the place where we found each other, the place where we fell in love.  It is the place that will forever be the foundation for the love that will carry us through life, the love that will lift us up when things get hard.  It is the beginning of our love story. 

But Lexington is where the story unfolds.  It is where we will get married, have children, and grow old.  It is where we will build a life on the foundation we created.  Florida is filled with people and places we love, but so is Kentucky.  Florida was my half of the puzzle and Kentucky was Wes’s.  But now they are both ours: our niece and nephew, our first house, our wedding, our love story.  Nothing is his or mine anymore.  Everything is ours.  I love watching all the pieces of each of us come together in one perfect puzzle of a life.  And, although sometimes things might be unclear or hard, I love knowing that Wes is the person I have chosen to travel through life with.  No matter where life might take us, I know he will always be there, writing our love story right beside me. 

#bunzbachbash

            Wes and I are on the road again; this time en route to our old home and the place where we fell in love: Jacksonville.  We are both beyond excited, and feeling very sentimental as we make the all-too-familiar drive down I-10.  Today’s Hits Radio is blaring on Pandora, and we are slowly reverting back into less mature versions of ourselves as we prepare for a few days of reliving “the good ole days” in the Florida sun. 

            I’ve gotten to do a lot of that this week, actually.  Having my Bachelorette party on the beach was a pretty genius idea, if I do say so myself.  Although I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous about the weekend.  I invited all of my best friends from all the different chapters of my life, but many of them didn’t know each other.  I was worried about how everyone’s personalities would mesh.  But as we sat in the condo on Saturday night, and I looked around the room at all the women in my life who mean the most to me, I was amazed at how everyone just clicked.  It was like, despite the fact that all of our lives are so different, everyone was meant to become friends last weekend.  

            We lounged on the beach all day on Saturday, falling in and out of easy conversation and utter relaxation.  Inside jokes were made almost instantly and were thrown about throughout the entire weekend followed by choruses of laughter.  My stomach actually started to hurt from laughing so much.  There is just something about being with your girlfriends that can make you feel like everything is right in the world, especially when so many people come together so perfectly and for no other reason than to celebrate you.  Or in this case...me.  I am such an incredibly lucky lady to be able to call these amazing women my best friends, and I cannot wait until the next time we are all together…at my wedding! 

March Madness

Winter is officially coming to a close in the Bluegrass. Wes and I are heading south for spring break, and the long car ride has finally given me time to process all the excitement that the month of March has brought. It has, in fact, been a jam-packed month, filled with lots of “firsts” that have left our heads spinning.  There is a tangible excitement buzzing throughout the car this morning, and whether it’s the Kentucky game this evening or the Bachelorette Extravaganza about to dominate my weekend, or the other really super, extremely exciting news we got yesterday (to be announced soon), there is definitely a lot to celebrate.  But I couldn’t even begin to recap the literal “March Madness” we’ve had this year without going back a little bit farther to February 28. 

On that day I became “Aunt Hannah” for the first time, a title I have dreamed of having for many years.  As an only child, I always wondered if I would ever get to bear that title and what that relationship might look like.  But after meeting Wells and Elinor, all my questions were answered.  Even in the very first moment I laid my eyes on them I knew I couldn’t love them any more if they were my own blood.  My heart filled with joy, and has continued to overflow every moment I have spent with them in the four weeks since their birth. 

These days there are few things I love more than Elinor’s precious pout or Wells’s chubby cheeks.  My new happy place is anywhere where they are, preferably with one of them sleeping on my chest.  Changing diapers and giving bottles are now some of my favorite things.  In the 10 days I am going to be gone to Florida this week, I worry about all the things I will miss.  How much will they have grown and changed when we return?

          Already I can’t wait for all the moments I will get to share with them: their baptism in May, our wedding in June (there is already a dance being planned just for them), Christmases and birthdays, slumber parties with chocolate chip pancakes, bike rides and “house” and vacations.  I can’t wait to spoil them and love on them and let them know every day how absolutely precious they are to me in every possible way.  They gave me a gift I have always wanted.  A gift I have always dreamed of.  They made me an aunt, and for that I will love them forever.

The Slow Days of Winter

A couple posts ago I mentioned that the weather here in good ole Kentucky has been something to adjust to.  And apparently I’m not alone in this sentiment.  This winter has been one for the books for many of us; it just so happens that it’s been especially noteworthy for this Florida girl. 

Spending most of my childhood in the Panhandle taught me to truly appreciate the value of a good snowfall.  Last Christmas when Wes and I were in Kentucky visiting, I was a giddy child at the fall of the first snowflake, making him take pictures with me on the steps of his parent’s house.  The two of us left the house early one morning to go sledding down a huge hill by his grandmother’s house and make perfect snow angels with no handprint in the middle.  The snow was a great adventure for me, so beautiful and full of potential.  And in it I was young and carefree. 

Snow seems to be a regular part of my life now.  It would be quite easy for me to grow tired of it, to dread its appearance, to bah humbug my way into a grumpy mood all winter.  But, to me, it’s still just as magical.  Despite the 10 snow days we’ve had this year, I still love the surprise of waking up to a crisp white blanket on the ground.  I’ve made the most of our many days off, taking the time to be productive and recharge all at once.  And even though it might be the middle of June before we get out for the summer, I still can’t say I’m ready to see the end of winter. 

There is just something about it that makes life slow down a little.  It almost makes me sad when I see it start to melt, like time is resuming, like things are beginning to change.  In the other seasons you see so much progress, the days seem to fly by.  There is so much growth and life in the spring; there are so many things to anticipate.  Summer zooms past in the blink of an eye even though you’re trying to slow it down with all your might.  You can literally see the time pass in fall as the leaves gradually begin their change and slowly fall to the ground.  But in winter, oh, how the snow can make time stand still, seem frozen.  If only we could all learn to appreciate it while it’s here.