Nashville.

On Friday, Josh and I drove down to Nashville to meet up with our good friends Rob and Kate.  The overarching purpose of our trip was to spend time catching up with two of our closest friends, but the real reason we chose that weekend, that day, and that city is because Taylor Swift's last concert on her RED tour was going to be there that weekend.

It's no secret that I'm a bit of a Taylor Swift fan.  I sometimes feel the need to apologize for it because I'm older than her and her songs almost never apply to my life, but who cares, I'M A FAN. DEAL.

While we were living overseas, Taylor's tour had a show in Detroit and I literally woke up at 4am the night she was there and laid in my bed, in Baku Azerbaijan, bitterly thinking about how I would be at that concert at that very second if only I was home.  That being said, within days of realizing we were coming back to the US, I was googling her tour dates.  Meeting our friends in Nashville and buying very expensive tickets all seemed like a far-fetched idea, but I threw it out to Kate and, within a few hours, we had tickets and plans to make it happen!

So, going to the RED concert on Saturday felt like such a gift.  

It is also worth mentioning that it was our first time away from Piper, and we weren't away for just one night, but two!  It was hard to drive away when we dropped her off, but I think that this weekend away with friends was so refreshing for our marriage.  (It also happened to be the 6 year anniversary of our first date!)  Thankfully, my mom took care of Piper so I didn't have to worry one bit about how she was doing.  Honestly, the weekend was so good for us that we resolved to make it a goal to take at least one weekend away - just the two of us - every year.  Having two days to be carefree and unscheduled and, if I'm being honest, a little selfish was really incredible.  (Also, two full nights of sleep? AMAZING.)  We were able to connect and talk in the car and just have fun together and if there is something I've learned in the last two years, it's that having fun and making memories and sharing experiences together is a necessity in our relationship.  

Anyway, I wore a new red dress and red lipstick and red nails and boots. I drank girly drinks. I danced like a crazy person and totally fangirled (is that a verb now?) over Ed Sheeran.

...there is just something about a new dress!

After the show, the boys came downtown to find us.  Scanning the crowd for Josh and finding him was also one of my favorite parts of the weekend.  Seeing a face that I know.  Intimately.  A face that I parent with and kiss and eat with and fight with and live with, in a sea of strangers... it was a unique flood of joy that washed over me.  Plus he looked oh so handsome... honestly I fell a little more in love with him and felt very thankful that he is mine. 

This trip to Nashville was our last planned trip for the foreseeable future.  It feels so good to be done traveling and done transitioning for quite a while.  Now, I get to learn about finding the joy in a normal, everyday, beautiful, faithful-in-the-small-things kind of life.  I am eager to embrace it and to choose joy in the 'ordinary'!