It's strange to think that a year ago today we had sold our home, left our friends and family, and were headed out for a year of travel in our Four Wheel Camper. As I look back on it I struggle to find the words to truly encompass this past year. I am so unbelievably lucky to have a writer as a husband. One who often expresses our life in ways that I cannot and with a beauty I feel but can't put to paper. The articles that Zach wrote for both www.thedrive.com and www.bowmanodyssey.com are works of art and will be how we remember this past year for the rest of our lives.
How can you explain the vast beauty of the United States to someone who has not explored it's nooks and crannies? How do you describe the colors of the desert in spring time? How do you convey the longing for wild emptiness alongside gratitude for familiarity and home? Every day I am a contradiction of memories and emotions. Every day I miss the trip. Every day I am glad to be settled.
Several things I can say for certain about the past year. I will never regret it. Never. Never. Few people can say they did something like that together. It made us closer. It made us rooted together. It made me better in so many ways. As a wife, as a mother, as a friend, as an artist. It was trial by fire a lot of times but still--that made me better. It also gave me a passion for adventure. Not just going places and taking vacation but motivating others to explore what we have and encouraging others (especially women) to go out there and do it. I don't know how these passions will come into shape but they are there inside me like burning embers.
At the end of the day the truth is that the adventure isn't over. There are so many questions we have not answered. How do we adapt to this new life? How do we apply what we learned from the trip to what we do now? How do we continue to travel and put friends and family first? I don't know but if I learned anything last year it's to expect the unexpected with open arms and that not everything has to have an answer. So here's to not knowing where we are going, to getting lost sometimes, to not having directions, and to nights by the campfire with some of the most amazing people on this planet.
