Fragabond

Today is Thursday July 28, 2022. We hit the road and said goodbye to sunny South Florida 6 days ago, and I am still putting together my thoughts about this crazy season. If you have the link to this blog page, it is because you know we decided to pack up our things and leave home behind for a little while. We plan to see beautiful places and spend extended time as just “Zack and Katie,” which sounds restful and exciting. But I keep returning to the thought…I can’t believe we are doing this – it must be set aside for something. Every chapter of our story so far feels logical, practical, methodical. Get the degrees, learn how to invest, take only moderate risks, always have a safety net, and take care of your people. So, we did that. I am proud of most of the ways we did, too. But this new chapter feels like it is supposed to be different. It doesn’t make good sense in the worldly, practical view, but God didn’t just gently nudge me into it. I feel humbled and grateful because I know that God shoved me into it. It is so outside of my nature to make choices like this, but for some reason He flipped a switch inside my head like never before. The idea came up and we sailed through the decisions in one March weekend – quit Katie’s job, apply to Grad school, leave in July, drive west, 6-month time frame. We dove in headfirst, executed in a whirlwind, said goodbyes, and suddenly here we are in North Carolina.

The past month has been full to the brim…we said dozens of farewells, had so many special meals with friends and family (Beef Wellington, Coolinary Café, and Park Avenue BBQ to name a few), packed things, unpacked things, attended a baby shower, a bachelorette party, AND a wedding, finally fixed the leaky toilet and organized the garage, ♥︎ welcomed Stella Rose ♥︎, had more happy-hour/lunch goodbyes with coworkers-become-friends than I ever expected, soaked in as much of the Jupiter beach as possible, and stopped by our favorite local places one more time…

One of those places is Tequesta Brewing Company (“TBC”). When we moved back to Palm Beach County in 2017 with a new-found love of craft beer (thanks, Madison, WI), we found and immediately loved TBC’s constant rotation of new brews. But more than good beer (of which the TBC well never runneth dry ☺︎), we found a place where Zack and I really talked – away from the distractions of life and chores and family and friends and responsibilities and work. On countless occasions, we sat in that dark bar under its blue, fluorescent lights, chatting about God, life, plans, pains, aspirations. I am still not sure why, but some of our most personal and important connections were established under those blue lights.

I can’t believe we are doing this, but I feel a constant tugging thought that there are things in this season that we are supposed to learn, do, and see.

So, here is to the many more “blue light” moments I know we will have on this journey together.

-Katie