Move back East

I felt this move coming like a crescendo. The build up slowly growing, the musician’s faces shimmering in concentration. Their eyes on the music before them but their ears listening for the sound that hasn't yet been played. Expectant, they know the chords, the notes, the hand positioning. Then in a flourish, it all falls into one perfect sound, flowing like a waterfall, the chorus hitting highs and lows.

I heard the music before it was played. My ears earnestly seeking out the sound of the notes that my mind was playing. The sound so thick in my head I smelled it and awaited the downpour surely to follow.

And then it came sounding somehow louder, stronger, more beautiful and eccentric, funky and sweet. The same notes I expected, the same sound, but magnified. 

Moving was the crescendo we had been awaiting like children at Christmas. Not knowing time and dates, but knowing it was coming. We had both felt a shift after visiting my family over the holidays. We met with dear friends, his and mine. We spent time breaking bread and sipping coffee and laughing at memories with all these people we love and hold dear. And we knew, something had shifted, the need to stay, to try and grow in the desert world of LA was blowing us away with each windy wintery night. When we left Maryland in December, we knew we would return. We had hoped it would be in April, but there is a time more assured and tested than our own, and it seemed that His timing had come through again. Revealing Himself once more to us. His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence ringing true in all the ways we had failed to realize.

It began when DJ got laid-off. Budget cuts were cited but so was the presence of an intern taking over his exact job and duties a few weeks before Christmas. Then the company I had worked with failed to follow through with the promotion promised, and the job posting for it appeared on their Instagram account with no word or mention of it to me. It felt as though we were literally being pushed out. After many trials in LA, many failed connections and job opportunities our time was ticking out as the sand slowly fell through the hourglass.

With little to no planning we immediately declared our move back to Maryland. The plans, which began on ink and paper, two weeks later, were materialized in brown boxes and a U-Haul trailer. In two weeks we managed to tie up loose ends, say goodbye to dear friends, and pack up the world we had dreamed up for ourselves only a year earlier. 

We began the trip heading to 29 Palms, DJ's old Marine Base, to drop off the surfboard and TV one of his friends loaned us and for DJ to say a final farewell to his old platoon. Then we drove to Vegas and stayed for such a short stop we didn't even get a chance to see my Sister-in-law. Then we were off to uncharted territory into the desert between Vegas and Arizona. It was thrilling, exciting, and we were tingling with expectation. We drove through Utah, one of the most scenic and naturally beautiful routes I had ever seen. The colors, the mountains, the snow and the trees. 

Then we were thrust higher into the cold, thin air of the Colorado Mountains. Snow covering more than just grass and the air so cold our breath visible and white. The twists and turns of the mountain pass and the expectation to make it to our destination, my best friend's house, guiding us onward. We delayed an extra day in Colorado, spending some sweet time with my best friend Tina. It had been eleven years since I had first promised to visit her in Colorado and I finally followed through with that promise.

That extra day in Colorado was sweet. A time to restore, to take in the beauty of Colorado, of long-distance friendship, and of memories. We even got a chance to reconnect with a buddy from DJ's platoon who had gotten out a couple months before him. His friend Ross is sweet, kind, and funny, and I had gotten to know him a few years before at my first Marine Corps Ball. The trip became even sweeter since DJ finally got to meet Tina's parents, who had been like second parents to me when I was growing up. And when we drove away it moved me to see he had grown the same love and admiration for the people I loved too. 

We then headed towards the flat plains of Kansas finishing an audiobook we had begun before, The Graveyard Book, which we were relieved to finally end. DJ drove that whole day since I was feeling unwell, and he drove the longest that day, around 15 hours. We found a hotel in Indianapolis to stay in for the night before our last leg of the journey.

The next morning we hurried out back on the road excited to finally finish our trip. We began listening to Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, which quickly became our favorite pastime during the whole trip. We had switched off listening to a playlist I created for the trip which was mostly classic rock, some of DJ's favorite podcasts like the Joe Rogan Show or Tim Ferris Show, and my favorite podcast, The Simple Show.

We crossed into Ohio, then West Virginia, then Pennsylvania and finally Maryland. Our trip was so smooth, no flat tires, or bumps or problems, a miracle after such little planning. When we drove to Mike and Tiff's house (DJ's brother and sister-in-law) we were stunned. We couldn't believe we had made it, it felt as if we blinked and then suddenly arrived. And we were surprised to find ourselves at the doorsteps of the place we would be calling home for a short while, on the steps of a new season, almost afraid to knock and leave behind the adventure that had just brought us there.

We filmed one final vlog. One we haven't yet posted. And then we got out of the car and went inside and a new season of life began.

It has been only five days since our grand cross country trip ended and only five days since our new season of life in Maryland began. We have found ourselves still in shock, still adjusting and still learning the new rhythms of this place. We have spent time with our families here and slowly reaching out to friends. 

We have found ourselves back at the brink of adventure although this time we aren't sure where the destination is and where this journey will take us.