three purple hearts

We marveled at the sunset as we headed to our Missouri home one last time tonight. As another chapter ends, my heart is both full and heavy. These kids have worked so hard this year, and there were so many amazing indications of just how much they have taken to heart what we’ve been working on. I hold so much hope for them as they grow up leaning into doing hard things. I have learned so much by spending time with them, hearing their stories, battling shame and sitting with heavy feelings together. This is a group to watch, I think. Their fierce love for each other and the world around them will change it… and it certainly has changed mine. Tomorrow, we hit the road to Wichita. I’m sure we’ll be back to Kansas City from there more than we’ve been back to Texas from here. Still… it is a bittersweet leaving. We grieve. We grow. We love. Sunset to sunrise, I love you all.

17 years ago, on this exact day... I met this guy in person for the first time. That is one of the craziest facts of my life. For him to stick with me after that night... to choose to make a commitment to the person I was then... and to still be choosing me after all these years takes my breath away. 16 years ago tonight, we got married in Olathe. In a small chapel there, surrounded by a tiny group of people whose bets as to how long we would stay together were all over the place... we made vows to each other. Though the words we say have shifted over time and the expressions of love look different now, the heart of who we were back then has grown into a beautiful example of what is possible when two people stick it out. Sure... we have had our days, weeks, sometimes months that we struggled. Thankfully, they are fewer and farther between these days. We've hit our stride in the last couple of years and it is glorious. We aren't leaving KC quite as quickly this year as we did af...

Sigh. This is a difficult reality to sit with. Be sure to show up for yourself… sometimes you’re the only person who will. I’m exhausted this week. I need the 21st to get here soon so that I can go home and settle into real life. Until it does, I’ll keep working on holding to the tenuous balance that I have attained and believing that people who aren’t committed to making me the villain are real and will stick around. People will write you into their stories however it suits them. Show up for yourself. Be authentically present and unapologetically real. Happy Wednesday. I love you! 💜💜💜