THE SURPRISE

She’s coming!

    A few days before I was to begin a journey that would take me 3000 miles away from her, Jenn let me know she would be joining me. What started as an offhanded comment that she should “come along for the ride”, turned into the best news of my recent life. In typical Jenn fashion, she took my words to heart and made magic out of them. By asking her mom to watch the girls, and taking a leap of faith that 10 days in a cramped car with me and my stinky dog was exactly what she wanted, she instantly turned a depressing drive into the trip of a lifetime.

    For five years, I had known Jenn was an amazing person. For three months, I had known I was madly in love with her. But it wasn’t until that moment, did I finally know how deep her love was for me. She could have sat comfortably at home and just watch me drive away. A lesser woman might even have been angry with me, or written me off, for leaving. But not her. She doubled down. “You’re not getting away that easily”, she said, and she meant it. And I could not have been happier.

    Over the course of the next couple days we plotted our route. Instead of driving straight across the country’s snowy heartland, in the dead of winter, we decided to go south to chase the sun and hopefully the warmth that came with it. Instead of doing the drive in 5 days, we would take 10, and planned to hit all the interesting and unusual places along the way. Including every National Park and Monument we could manage. And instead of staying in expensive hotels, we would camp out beneath a wide-open sky and endless sea of stars.

    Our expedition would begin at one corner of the country and end at the other. In between we would pass through 19 states, most of which I had never visited, and travel nearly 5000 miles. South to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee. West to Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Then north to Nevada, California, and Oregon. Making a giant smiley face across our great nation. And the more I thought about it, the bigger the smile was that grew across my own face.

    I quickly recalculated the space I’d allocated in my car. With one more human and a few additional pieces of luggage, some items would have to go, or get squeezed in just a little bit tighter. I pared down what I could, got rid of a couple of oversized bags and shoved what needed to get shoved into every crack and crevice available. Crossing my fingers that I didn’t need to retrieve them again until we hit Washington. Or, God forbid, have to open the back hatch.

    By the time Riley and I arrived at Jenn’s doorstep that cold and windy February morning, my CRV was bursting at the seams. Jenn’s armrest was a cooler. Her backpack was crammed under her legs. Riley’s bed in the back seat was perched upon layer upon layer of blanket and pillow. On top, we had a roof rack filled with my clothes and a loaded-up bike rack dangled from behind. Aerodynamically, we were like a brick with wheels. But we didn’t care. We were together, we had a plan, and the open road lay ahead.

    Even now, I can’t begin to tell you how much Jenn’s selfless decision meant to me. It completely changed the tenor of the trip. What could have been a sad and lonely drive across the country would now become an incredible adventure with my best friend. She had saved my life and now my move. And I couldn’t wait to spend the next 10 days, and 5000 miles of driving, with her right by my side.