adventure.

​Our Heavenly Father is hilarious. I mean, really! God has a sense of humor. He’s pithy. He’s witty. And, He’s always right.
 
In 2015 I decided to push away from the undoubtedly failed expectations of New Years' resolutions and instead embrace the concept of themes. Novels have a theme. Sermons have a theme. Instagram feeds have a theme (not mine, but you get the point).
 
Having already verbally committed to a few adventure challenges on and off the bike for 2015, I simply selected the word adventure to inspire the 365 days that followed. I would say yes to challenges, excitement, and pretty much anything that scared me. So when Jason asked me late December of 2014 to put our beloved Skitts Mountain home on the market and move back to Banks County, in a moment of impulse, I said yes.
 
I documented the entire 2015 adventure courtesy of the Notes app. (see screen shots)
 
The year began with us listing our Skitts Mountain home, which went under contract in 24 hours and closed 24 days later (talk about adventure), to finally moving in to our newly remodeled post-flood home in Banks County (yes, I said flood).
 
In between, I completed my adventure challenges such as my first century on a bike followed by riding Coast to Coast in Florida the following weekend, all 174 sweltering miles. I trained for a marathon that ultimately ended in a heat advisory pulling runners from a course. 20 miles is still my longest distance to date and I’m honored to have run that with dear friends in downtown Cleveland, Georgia on a chilly October morning. I completed my first triathlon on the New River in Virginia. What I naively hoped would take 8 hours, took 10. True, I couldn’t pee without wincing for the next 24 hours due to dehydration, but to see my husband and dad at every transition cheering me on, was indescribably worth it!
 
I also said yes to some professional adventures appearing on stage as the mother of Elle Woods in the school production of Legally Blonde. I accepted the position as Program Director for our gifted school-within-the-school under the guidance of my beloved mentor, where I am daily learning that I know nothing about student leadership or educational politics.
 
Some adventures were not so fun. In February, after selling one home and having the other flooded, we moved into what I lovingly called “the tiny house experiment” in downtown Cleveland, Georgia. Thanks to our dear friend, he rented us his grandmother’s charming 800 square foot home. During the transition, we lost our beloved Racooney at the age of seven. Even my cat-detesting husband cried with me. In September, while still living at “the tiny house experiment” even though my father-in-law said we’d be moved in to our new home by May, we adopted our little man, Quigley. AKA Quiggles. AKA Big Quiggs. AKA, Quigmeister. AKA, the cutest and most cat-like (Jason will be offended by this) Australian Shepherd puppy!
 
All of these adventures were public knowledge. All of these adventures were Instagram worthy, even the unplanned.

But what people did not know is that the deeply seeded adventure planted within my heart was motherhood.

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