Rugged + Bougie

Christmas Break.

My cowboy and I are fortunate to work together- literally. Aside from getting to flirt with each other at work, another perk is having the same days off around the holidays. This break, we found ourselves with a real-life, first-world-equestrian problem. Who gets the truck when one wants to use it for side-work, and the other wants to use it for horses. Side-work wins because it makes money instead of costing. (Rude, if you ask me...but nonetheless.)

"You need a truck of your own," he slipped up and said one evening.

The words no sooner left his lips than I had begun the hunt for the perfect, somewhere between rugged and bougie, cowgirl truck. And oh, did I find it.

The wheeling, dealing, photo-sending, and number-crunching was all completed via phone call and email- so when we arrived in Sterling, Va all we had to do was sign on the dotted line and head back home. (We like to do one-day, round-trip road-trips...this is how we live dangerously at 36.)

The ride north was relatively uneventful...except for the rock that cracked my otherwise perfect 4Runner/trade-in before we even got out of North Carolina and a sighting of Marine-One hovering over the interstate. The ride south included an incredible amount of excited giggling...and not just from me. 

"OMG!! This thing has wifi!? I'm setting up our wifi name..." 

"You should make it..." I cut him off, I already had the perfect name.

"PrettyFlyForAWiFi!! Do you get it?!"

"*eyeroll* Yes, honey...I get it." (He is really so lucky to have married a comedian.)

We were partially delirious somewhere around 7pm. (Hour 13 of our trip) We were desperately looking for a bathroom- and potentially, somewhere for dinner. We pull off the interstate and make an attempt to follow signs to a gas station? McDonald's? What was it we saw a sign for? 

"Fort Eustis?" my husband says.

"Ohhh!!! An army base! They totally have bathrooms," I exclaim. 

"They are not going to let us use the bathroom," clearly in a panic, "And I can't have a concealed weapon on an ARMY BASE." (Don't worry, he has a permit for it.)

At this point, we are fast-approaching the guard gate. 

"Probably best to do a U-Turn...they probably won't let us on the army base," I say, all while getting the look.

Due to Covid's blessings, most of the fast food restaurants weren't allowing patrons inside so ended up in the most magical place in all the land. Target. And what typically accompanies a Target? Chick-Fil-A. In the word's of the great Ice Cube...(it) was a good day.

A few days later, Little Miss & I set off for our first adventure in the new truck with our equine-babies. We had a great ride in the woods. The horses approve of the new truck, while Tristan wishes I would stop documenting his love for purple.  

Later that evening I dreamed about my daddy...one of those dreams, that are more like visits than dreams. He was leaning up against a fence post in the lawn of his church in Hyde County. I pulled in with my new truck, jumped out and ran to him.

"Daddy! I just wanted to hug you and show you my new truck!" I said, as we wrapped our arms around each other.

"I love it, Bud...I already saw it," he said with a wink.

I woke up and could still smell his hug on my skin. It might seem silly to feel like my daddy had a hand in me finding something like a truck- angels are just tasked with watching over us, making sure we are not in harms way. But my angel is a farmer...and nothing ever tickled him more than his little girl driving trucks and trailers.

Hindsight is 2020

This is the time of year for reflection...reflecting on the good, bad, ups, downs, positives and negatives of the previous 12 months.

2020 was definitely different, but I can’t say it was awful- at least not for our little family. We learned so much about ourselves over this last year, whether it had to do with the craziness of Covid-19 or not. We grew. We evolved. We figured out what and who mattered most in our life and what is worth putting in the work to keep around. Some things we waved goodbye to- alcohol, some friendships, and sadly, my waistline. As we waved goodbye to some things, we made room for others- a solid relationship with God, family-time, mother-daughter trail rides, motivation to work even harder, and a bigger drive to be better people.

I have always had faith and a relationship with God, but being able to share that with my spouse and have a solid relationship with God together is a whole new level of amazing. I found that in my worries, which...more often than not are ludicrous fabrications of tiny, little molehills that I have morphed into mountains...when I prayed or more-so expressed my concerns to God- I stopped feeling the worry I was originally overcome by and started feeling grateful. {Worry is just a lack of faith...you have faith...stop worrying about the unknown and be thankful for what is right in front of you.} 

Over this last year, I've been reminded that life is a lot like a horse pasture- it takes work to keep good footing. Without good footing, you're quite literally just stuck in the mud. {I relate every situation to horses- if you didn't know that, you must be new here. Welcome.} We have to tend to our life pasture, adding things to make it better each year. This year, we added a whole lotta Jesus to our footing and spent a little more time in our pasture. (If 2020 has awarded us anything, it is a little extra time at home.) 

For those who struggled during this previous year, 2020 was just a rock in your pasture. A new numbered year won't change the outcome unless you allow for it to happen...tend to your pasture, add to your footing- I promise, it is worth it.

Happy 2021!