Packing up 8 years of our life and moving to Austin – In Photos!

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By this point, you know that we’ve moved to Austin and we’re building our own home. The moving process though – What a crazy insane trip that was. After we had our rental house situation figured out we started the purging and packing process. (Mostly purging because the packing was entirely too overwhelming if I’m honest.)

I tried to start earlier. I swear I did… I started purging in July! But packing?? Well, that was kind of a last-minute effort that only happened with the help of some VERY SPECIAL people!

This was when I realized it was becoming real. Wall space was starting to appear and the chaos was coming!
Hubman looking through photos of his grandmother and grandfather. We lost both of these amazing people, Grandma Rose right before we moved, and Pappy Doyal right after.

My last day at the office was bittersweet. My team was so kind and generous. They tried their hardest to keep me from crying! Cookies, cupcakes, breakfast, lunch, Starbucks – It was a wonderful day!

Liz and I stayed up until 11 am on Saturday packing. It was intense. There were tears, laughs, delirious conversations, hallucinations… All the things! She went home at 11 and I slept on the couch for a few hours before I hopped back up and went right back again.

We got all our Home documents signed, keys, and garage door openers packed and ready to go, then it was time to wait for our moving team. I’m so thankful for our cousin Marcus. He showed up from San Marcos and moved our stuff for us. We were SO THANKFUL TO HIM and Trey.

The amount of love and support of our friends and family was truly amazing. People brought boxes and tape and bubble wrap and packing paper. Others stayed up ALL NIGHT with me packing boxes. The memories made while packing up our home in Arlington were truly ones that I’ll keep in my favorite box forever.

Then we got to Austin and started unpacking…
The love notes on the boxes from everyone had me in tears. It had become VERY REAL that I had just left some of the most amazing people in my life about 250 miles away.

Here’s a little preview of our temporary rental home in Austin. The neighborhood is amazing! Everyone is super friendly and we felt like we fit right in within days. We’ll miss this neighboorhood when we move, but for now, it’s home.

The family that showed up, the friends that showed up, the ones that rolled up their sleeves and started throwing things in boxes – I’ll never be able to repay you guys for everything that you did. Certainly, the donuts and dinners were nothing compared to how you all helped us through this.

This woman showed up and finished the job. If it weren’t for her, my stepmother, and my aunt, I think we’d STILL be packing my bathroom and closet alone. We spent our last night in Arlington having dinner with this wonderful human. I’m so thankful she’s in our lives.

Hubman and I cannot thank you all enough. From purging, to packing, to even moving, we had the most support and love thrown our way. More than we could have ever imagined. You guys were the real MVPs!

We look forward to sharing our new home in Austin with these special people in our lives. So many people stepped up and carried us through this process. Truly, we couldn’t have done this alone. (Well, we could have, but it would have been WAY more brutal!)

We appreciate you guys more than a cold shower after packing for 14 hours. Truly.
Thank you all so much!

An open letter to the friends I’ve grown apart from

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Dear Friends (who I’ve grown apart from),

I hope you know how much I love you. I hope you know how grateful I am for the season that you were my person. I know we’re not in each other’s day to day lives anymore, and that’s sometimes sad, but it’s also okay. Our paths took us separate directions, and I’m grateful for the time we had.

Sometimes I see you on Facebook or Instagram. I see your life now and the things and people that fill it. I see your new home, your new baby, and your new job, and I just want you to know I am so so proud of you. So proud. Even though I no longer sit across from you regularly sharing my heart and hearing yours… I’m cheering you on from afar.

I’m cheering for you with my whole entire heart, my friend. I want nothing, but good and wonderful things for you.

You are a part of my heart and journey forever.

Love,
Me

Originally posted here.

2020 – A time to reflect

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2020. What a year for all of us. As I sit here each night and reflect upon what seems to be somehow the longest yet the fastest year so far, I can’t help but think about all that has happened around the world, in our country, and even in my own life. I think about the losses that so many have had to grieve due to COVID 19 and the grief that I’ve been through in losing some of the most loved people I knew, though none of them lost their lives to COVID 19. I think about the losses that the country felt and how they impacted change for the better. I think about Kobe Bryant and RGB. I think about George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. I think about our police officers and how many of them just try to truly protect and serve us.

Trying to process this year has been hard. Though through all the loss, I have hope. I see the progress that our country has made and certain wins show us that we are finally headed in the right direction. Our country is coming together to fight for change and while we are still so very far away from where we should be in 2020, we are at least moving forward.

I think about my family. I think about myself. I think about how at the beginning of this year I was going through one of the hardest mental breaks of my life, though many didn’t know. I think about how this virus shaped 2020 and I appreciate that it’s given me time to truly become one with my thoughts and really take a deep look inside. I think about how Keenan and I have had a chance to become closer and really spend some amazing quality time with each other. That’s when I start to feel grateful and fortunate, and then I start to feel terribly guilty that I’ve been so lucky this year while so many people around me aren’t as fortunate.

I think about the holidays. I think about how different they are this year and how filled with fear I have been of spreading a potentially deadly virus rather than the magic that usually fills me so full of love and happiness. I think about how thankful I am that members of my community still put up lights and Christmas decorations to bring some sense of joy and normalcy to this otherwise chaotic year. My heart gets warm and fuzzy with each holiday card I receive in the mail from my loved ones. I’m so grateful for the little things that I normally don’t stop and think twice about. On one hand I’m scared to death of passing on this virus to my family, and on the other hand I’m just so glad I’m fortunate to be able to spend the holidays with them all. The struggle is real.

I could complain about how much this year sucked, but what good would it do? It won’t solve anything and it certainly won’t make me feel better. So instead I choose joy.

Like many of you, I want so badly to say that 2021 will be better, but I also know that come January 1st, 2021 all the pain and issues we are dealing with today aren’t going to magically disappear. So as we all fight our own battles and adjust our expectations of what we thought life would look like in 2020 or 2021, I urge you all to take a moment and be truly grateful. Think of all that you have rather than what this year has taken from you. Think of the good that 2020 has brought you; maybe that’s more time to read your favorite books, listen to your favorite songs, spend time with treasured loved ones, or maybe focus on other goals. Let’s be thankful for what we’ve been given and try to focus on the happiness that 2020 brought us, rather than the sheer misery that accompanied it.

Let’s hug our loved ones a little tighter each time we see them. Let’s call our bestfriends at the most random times just to hear their sweet voices telling us that they love us too. Let’s throw frisbees outside with the kids next door just because we can. Let’s express gratitude that we are healthy and choose joy over despair.

Until next time, let your light shine bright.
Happy holidays, friends.

Good, Long Distance Friendship is Hard But So Worth it

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Woman getting into car

I cry every time she arrives, and I cry every time she leaves. Because each time I see her, I feel a little more like myself, and each time she leaves, I feel like a big piece of my heart drives away in her car.

Because one of my very dearest friends lives far away. And it’s just hard.

We can’t just hop in the car and meet for coffee.

We don’t make weekly shopping runs to Target when we both need to get out of the house, and I can’t run her over a plate of cookies when she has had a bad day.

I can’t show up on her front porch when I’ve gotten bad news or sit on her couch in tears when life gets hard. And she can’t drop by unannounced because she has something exciting that she can’t wait to tell me.

We can’t do everyday life together. And it kind of breaks my heart and I’ll always wonder what life would be like if we could live closer.

But you know what we can do?

We can FaceTime like the bosses we are. Even while we are feeding babies, folding clothes, changing diapers.

We can send each other cards and flowers, and when we do get to see each other, we usually show up with gifts and chocolate.

I can still call her and hear her reassuring voice, and she can call me when life gets hard. We give each other knowing looks over FaceTime, and they still translate when we are in person.

Because even in friendship, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the time together sweeter.

When we do get together, our hugs are long and precious. We don’t take for granted being able to look one another in the eyes and really listen. We laugh more in the few hours or days that we have than we do with anyone else, and the knowing of each other’s hearts is so evident, even though we have our differences. We brag about our husbands and giggle (and cry) about our kids and we STILL share life together like no time has passed.

Which is why it makes her driving away just hard. But friendship . . . good, long distance friendship is hard, but so worth it. Yes, every time she leaves, she takes away a piece of my heart. But she always brings it back the next time I see her.

Originally published on From Blacktop to Dirt Road.