CHANGE

We are your average American family.  

Nick, Jennie, Everly, Smith, and Lennon (or Lenny Bird). 

We have lived our entire lives in the South - southern food, southern manners, southern religion, and beautiful southern people. 

I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up. I wanted to be a music teacher, and I was. I taught middle school chorus for 6 years before we had Everly. I truly loved it. Sometimes I still miss it. I have spent the last 9 years being a mom to our 3 kids and supporting Nick any way I can. I’ve lost myself a little along the way, but here we are.

Nick chose his major in college by process of elimination. Business-nope too many Friday classes, Engineering-no thank you calculus! Sociology-perfect! He ended up using his degree to play in a southern rock n’ roll band called Needtobreathe for a few years.

Then, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, newly married and completely broke, we decided to move to Charlotte, NC. With a teaching job and the only other job we could find, door-to-door insurance sales, we were ready to build our new life. Growing Nick’s business and climbing the corporate ladder became a part of our every day conversations and mutual goals.

Over the next decade we grew to be comfortable here. Very comfortable. With success, everything started to get bigger. We went from house 1, to house 2, to 3, to 4, to 5, to 6, and 7-not including rental property 1 and beach house 1 and 2. Kids came in house 4 and 6, as did more bills, a lot more expectations, and just more of everything.

 We have achieved more than we could have imagined.

But the deepest parts of us were craving something different.  

At the beginning of the pandemic Nick came to me and posed the following questions…

Are we actually living the life we want? 

Are we parenting the way we want to parent?

Do we agree with the way our priorities are currently set?

Are we present— like ever?

There was and still is a lot to unpack in the questions Nick asked.

Yes, we created this beautiful life, but is it creating, in us, the things we truly want?

After 2 years of living through the pandemic and everything else that is happening in the world, we have decided the answer to those questions are--NO.  

We truly live a very blessed life, but even though we are living the American Dream, we want more, or less actually.  

We want to slow down-like dramatically slow down. 

We want to consume less. We want to be surrounded by less. 

We want adventure and meaningful interactions. 

We want space to rest and dream and explore.  

We do not know what we’re doing. 

But we are focused and determined to make space for change.