Welcome to Life 44
Why do I have tears in my eyes writing that?! Ahhh!
I’m in my Engaged Era!!
I was going to ease into the story, but I have this uncontrollable urge to shout it from the rooftops! Since I don’t have access to a rooftop, I decided that my Substack would be the perfect place to share the news, the story, the evolution, and how Life 44 started.
First, I have to give a shoutout to the planning committee.
Kenzie, Ella, and Ali kept the biggest secrets and moved with sly precision to help MJ pull this off. I didn’t see it coming, not even a little bit.
I visualize secret planning meetings, Face-times, and text threads and it puts a smile on my face, knowing that these three women connected with the man I love to do this for me, for us.
I love you girls.
We woke up on September 7th slowly, just like most of the mornings we spent together. As a pilot, I know MJ’s schedule is one month at a time, and his days off vary weekly. This has tested how well I can go with the flow and nowadays, it feels like I’m fluid, moving wherever the tilt takes me.
We snuggled as much as we could in bed, me playing the role (always) as little spoon, while the dogs arm wrestled around us. It’s like the floor is lava in our bedroom, all of the playing happens in the bed, and with a golden retriever and husky sharing our sheets, it makes for an eventful wake-up.
I wandered downstairs to make our matcha while letting the dogs out and starting their breakfast. I love making matcha for two, the act of carrying our two coffee cups filled with green foamy tea and handing him one puts a smile on my face every day I get to do it.
We sat in our big chair - once my favorite place to sit, now our favorite place to sit - sipping our matcha. Dexter above our heads on the back cushion, Archie at our feet, squeezing his big body onto the ottoman while Rockie tries to get him to play with whatever toy he’s chosen that morning. We turned on Yellowstone and watched an episode, our current binge. We laugh, snuggle, and talk about ranch life during the 60-second commercials.
I got up to make our breakfast between episodes, making eggs, bacon, and biscuits so I could build his favorite sandwich, slathered with strawberry jam. After we finish another episode we slip out of pajamas and into daytime clothes so we can take a bike ride down to our favorite coffee shop in town. The 1.2-mile bike ride is all downhill on the way there so we cruise, enjoying the sun on our faces while I laugh at him, hands-free, on his bike, impressed by his balance.
