Tucked away among the rows of books in a Barnes and Noble Café, I sip on a hot, caramel apple cider and find myself in awe at how much life can change in such a short amount of time. It’s been two years since my last BandanaBow post. I did write some other articles at the start of that time gap, but I never quite finished any to post-worthy satisfaction. The wild thing now is that many of my half-ramblings don’t apply to my life anymore. So much has changed!
Thankfully, my adventurous spirit, love for the outdoors, and fascination with new experiences hasn’t changed in the midst of the many other transitions. Transitions like chopping my hair off, living in an apartment in Colorado Springs, owning a bright-colored, somewhat-older, convertible mustang … Oh ya, and getting married! Me, the girl who happily decided to see the world solo starting with a road-trip around America living in the back of my Ford Explorer; I am now a married woman.
Meet Nathan
… aka Nate, my best friend, the guy who makes me laugh, the person who might possibly have tied me in being a total goof, a prior military servicemen who I met three days before he deployed for a few months, my first and only boyfriend, and lastly, the amazingly patient, loving man I married exactly one year after the day we met. On June 23 of 2018, I had the perfect wedding with the trumpeting of La Vie en Rose playing as I walked down the aisle and This Will Be an Everlasting Love jamming on our walk out; the only two must-haves that I can remember always saying I’d have if I got married. Of course, that if-then statement was always quickly followed by a “but I’m pretty sure that’s not what God has for me.” I’ll write more on the wedding day soon! Have to show you my dress.
Reminiscing and Excitedly Running Forward
Now, before I jump ahead into life today, I want to take a moment and look back. I am so incredibly grateful that God allowed me to experience so much of life single. I got to experience an incredible cross-America road-trip that would have been so very different if I’d been with someone else: spouse or friend. Traveling alone allowed for me to make more connections with kind strangers, now friends, along the road, and it gifted me with ample time for solitude, reflection, and communication with our Creator.
If I’d been with someone else, I probably wouldn’t have struck up as many conversations. I wouldn’t have ended up on a mini road-trip around the Navajo Nation’s land in Arizona guided by two of the sweetest, fun-loving women I’ve ever met who I met in a Wal-Mart parking lot. 
I probably wouldn’t have learned that the best cheese curds in Green Bay, Wisconsin, actually come from a hospital. I wouldn’t have experienced the terror and somehow laughter of waking up in the back of my SUV to see a smiley face drawn into the front window. I wouldn’t have walked a couple miles in the rain up a road in Glacier National Park with two fellow, 20-something, women hikers to see a moose and a grizzly, and then end up sharing a dinner packed with Montana’s staple, huckleberry flavor.
My single adventures were an incredible gift that I expected to last throughout my life. But, thankfully, God decided to throw a curve ball on June 23, 2017. While I was out country dancing with friends, a handsome young man decided to dance with me (there’s so much more to the story; post to come). I would have never guessed that first dance would lead to a lifetime of dancing, laughing, adventuring, chilling, and exploring with the love of my life.
Looking to the future, I am so incredibly excited to continue sucking the marrow out of life, now, with my best friend and partner in fun by my side. I look forward to the new friends we’ll make; the places we’ll go; the laughter we’ll share; the views we’ll be in awe of side-by-side; the peaks we’ll summit; the surprises we’ll stumble upon; the challenges we’ll face together; the beauty we’ll discover in this planet and in each other; the people we’ll become by learning to lay our lives down for one another day after day; and, ultimately, the many adventures we’ll find, create, and enjoy together.
There’s so much to come, and there’s still so much to look back on. I have journals packed with experiences from my road trip and 26 years of musing as a single person that I still plan to share. Not to mention the surplus of thoughts that have arisen since being married for almost three months and the lifetime of experiences to come. So, I hope you’ll stick with me as I discover new adventures, muse over the big and small things of life, share the advice and tips that come along the way, and continue sucking the marrow out of life.
Let the new adventures begin!
A woman still seeking adventure (now with the addition of a fun-loving man by her side),
Mackenzie
