Life in the farmhouse was wonderful. The pace of life felt different away from the city. We took long walks down the dirt roads at sunset, spent hours at the nearby beach, and sometimes just sat around enjoying the golden light that filtered through the tall windows at sunset. In September, at the height of Covid, we held our wedding in the house’s grassy backyard under the 100 year old live oaks. Friends showed up to help us decorate, and celebrate. Many of our guests asked us how we found our venue, and we felt like we still had to pinch ourselves when we told them it wasn’t a venue, but our home. We should have been perfectly content where we were, but sometimes the heart needs more then just beauty and a settled way of life; it longs for adventure, and I was getting restless.

(Thanks to Toni Boucher Photography for these amazing photos from our wedding)

Stephan is a Virginia boy, born and raised, his family is there, and his friends were for the most part still living in the 757 area code, so I didn’t feel right asking him to leave. My previous years of travel nursing had helped me to feel comfortable starting over frequently in new places, but he had never done that. I mentioned moving once or twice, but then dropped it not wanting to push him into something he wasn’t completely sold on. We still lived an adventurous life. On the weekends we’d roadtrip to a nearby destination, or explore the area around our home, finding new spots that we loved. We knew we couldn’t rent our perfect farmhouse forever, but we enjoyed it while we could, until Stephan got a call that changed everything for us.

One day in January, I was working at the hospital when I felt my phone begin to buzz in my pocket repeatedly. I hurried into the break room and pulled it out to see the text, “Call me ASAP!!!” from Stephan in bold letters. He had gotten a call from the Army, the Capitol Building Riot had occurred, and they were mobilizing his unit to D.C. They told him to plan for a few days away, but a few days turned into weeks, and weeks quickly begin to stretch into over a month apart. It was nerve racking, but it gave us both a good opportunity to think and reevaluate our priorities. We called each other as often as we could, and one night as we were on FaceTime talking over the events of the day, he made a statement I was totally shocked to hear from him, he said, “Hey what if we move to Alaska!?”.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I hadn’t mentioned moving in months, so I knew this was something he must have been thinking over on his own. It wasn’t quite what I’d meant either when I’d made my earlier suggestions, my past jobs had only taken me to North Georgia, and then Virginia, never across countries. Never the less, I was immediately enticed by the idea by the idea of a big adventure. Alaska would be the most substantial change either of us had ever experienced, but we also had nothing holding us back. We spent a few more days talking over the logistics of how everything would actually work, and then decided to make the move. Stephan submitted the request to transfer units to the Army, and things begin to feel real.

Looking back, it’s amazing to me how events that seem insubstantial at the time, can change the course of our lives. Every small decision matters, but somethings are impossible to anticipate. There’s a lot of truth in the saying “Hindsight is 20/20.” The D.C. riot, and the time it gave Stephan to contemplate life, was something neither of us would have asked for, but in the end it altered our lives in a way both of us are now so grateful for. The unrest of that time, thrust us into a life of more adventure than just a cross country move, and the events that followed, are still shaping who we are, and the way we view life. It was the beginning of our uprooting, in ways both difficult, and positive.