We’re just a couple of Midwest kids, who (were) living in Texas, when we decided to pack it all up, sell the rest, and head out on a journey of a lifetime!
How did we get here, you might ask? Well, see, there’s a story about the birds and the bees……
Oh wait. You mean, what’s our story? We got it now. You really should be more specific next time.
Our Story
We met in college – albeit we were going to different schools when we met.
Matt was attending Miami University – the one in Ohio (and yes, we were a school before Florida was a state!) Megan was attending Illinois State, which happened to be in the hometown Matt grew up in. Over Christmas Break 2003, Matt and Megan were introduced by one of Megan’s high school friends who attended school with Matt. Are you still following? (And thank you KC for the introduction 😊)
Our first “date” was New Years Eve 2003. And while some legends are told about what exactly happened that night, rumor has it Matt overcame his intense awkwardness and shyness to go in for the first kiss at midnight. Matt insists the Bud Light’s helped tremendously.
Fast forward after dating for 9 years, we finally decided to get married.
But instead of immediately jumping into wild adventures, we sort of did the normal thing. Megan started a career in dental hygiene and Matt tried climbing the corporate ladder. We were perfectly boring.
After a couple more years, we did another fairly normal thing married couples do. We tried to get pregnant. And we did! We got REALLY pregnant – with twins!
Oh, but wait. That’s another crazy part of the story. Right as we were trying to have kids, Matt got offered a job in Dallas, TX and we accepted it – literally days before finding out we were having twins.
Now, no offense to any of you single-kid birthing parents. Parenting is HARD regardless of your situation. But we will hold firm – having TWO kids at the same time ups the ante a bit. And the move to Dallas – away from all of our family (aka babysitters, help, support) meant we were in for a challenge.
In 2013, our challenge began!
But like most challenges in life, we took it head on, celebrated the successes, and tried to learn from the mistakes (and trust us – there were PLENTY of mistakes!)
So what now?
After 8 years of doing the normal thing, we got a wild idea.
Back in PK days (pre-kid), we both wanted to travel the world and see the sights, eat the food, and meet the people. Even after kids, we thought about packing up and moving to an island where our kids could play in the beach every day instead of watching their parents waste away in a 9-5. But like most crazy and wild ideas we come up with every day, it never felt like the time was right.
And then 2020 happened…….
2020 was awful in so many ways, but we don’t want to dwell on the negative. Instead, we like to think about what we learned in 2020. The list is rather long, but here’s a few:
- Our kids are adaptable. They can go with the flow better than we give them credit.
- Our jobs are flexible. There is no physical location holding us down.
- We enjoy people. We missed that part – and want to experience more of this country (and world).
But probably the most important thing we realized – not just in 2020 – but as we’ve grown and tried to set an example for our kids is:
You have the rest of your life to be ORDINARY.
We won’t get these years back with our kids. They soak up the world like sponges, ask a million questions, and (for now) want to be around us. Why not experience life with them, through their eyes, on a journey most only dream about while we still have the chance? Heck – we’re both 38 years old and have barely scratched the surface of what this country and the people in it have to offer.
So we’d say – we did the “normal” thing. It’s just not for us 😊 And we can go back to being “normal” whenever we want because being normal isn’t a bad thing. We simply feel pushing yourself out of your comfort zone will help you grow, find strength, and remind yourself those little challenges in life aren’t so challenging at all.