49 by 29: One year later

A year ago today, I embarked on a grand adventure that has come to be called "49 by 29." It was, in short, a daydream I was lucky enough to make come true. It essentially involved flying across the country and road-tripping nearly 3,500 miles in order to set foot in Arkansas and West Virginia, my 48th and 49th states, respectively, in my quest to check off all 50. Jeremy, a fellow wanderer with the "will-o-the-wisp" who has already marked off all 50 states, kindly accompanied me on the journey.

As much as I would love to rehash the journey day by day, I think that would be a long and tedious post. Instead, I will send you here to catch the journey's beginning, and here to catch its end. If you are really, truly bored, please feel free to read the posts in-between, too. I had a lot of fun writing them.

Anniversaries like these always make me reminisce a bit. Nostalgia is fun. But they also give me a leaping point to look ahead.

In the past year, Jeremy settled back in Philadelphia, reunited with an old gal friend of his, and is engaged to marry her on July 6! I hope he and Heather drive forward with God's joy and love as a constant companion.

I switched jobs from grant writer and receptionist to coffee barista and freelance writer. I got my own apartment. And I met a wonderful man who is now courting me. As I look ahead, I seek to commit to this relationship with the same gusto I commit to travel. I hope to look for the new and wonderful and praiseworthy in Justin. And I hope we "Go with God" in everything we think, do, and say.

Here's to adventures in all shapes, sizes, places, and times. May we all live each moment, each day, and each year to its fullest and to God's deserved glory.

 

Florida Keys

 

48

 

 

Bison burger, sweet potato fries and stout beer in Chattanooga, Tennessee

 

49

 

Kayaking in Pittsburgh

 

Wildwood, New Jersey

 

Ben and Sarah's wedding in Indianapolis

 Me and Justin. Photo by Mandy Carroll.