This week, I get to check off a huge personal bucket list item. I’m flying on a plane, entirely alone.

Why is that such a big deal? I’ve flown before but never alone. You see, I’ve always had the security blanket of Patrick to help guide me.

Let me explain….when you get married at 19, you kind of skip over the time that most people are exploring and learning to do things on their own. Instead, I explored, traveled the world, took on new and exciting adventures, but they were all with Patrick. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that either! I loved every minute of it!

We celebrate 5 years in 2 months and it wasn’t until a few years ago that I created my own personal bucket list to make sure I still had/have individual goals, dreams and bucket list items that were for just me. As much as having a spouse is amazing and awesome, it’s also still important to do things just for you.

I’m naturally a hermit crab who dreams of traveling the world but is slightly terrified to actually do it. Our first cruise was a nightmare because I was in tears from the idea of getting off the boat and for whatever reason getting left behind. Patrick has been good for my soul though. My adventurous husband has patiently waited outside of my hermit crab home and whispered kind and reassuring words to coax me out over the years. I do spend more time outside of the shell now than in! 🙂 It’s crazy how you see that in your kids as well. Bennett has a small hermit shell of his own. Patrick calls him cautiously outgoing. He takes his time to warm up to an environment and then he’s all in.

2 years ago, I was able to check a smaller bucket list item off of my list. – Drive outside of the triangle by myself (preferably to the beach).

Patrick drives everywhere for us. He enjoys driving, I don’t, so we make a great team. Driving to Florida? He does the whole trip. Driving just a few cities over? He does it. Driving through the night? He does it. He rather be the one driving and I rather be the one sleeping 😉 HOWEVER, I realized a few years ago that I had never driven outside of the triangle by myself. The furthest was Clayton…. SO, when the chance to drive to the beach to meet up with Patrick, arose. I took it on with excitement! I checked it off my list. 🙂

A few months ago, I checked another one off of my list. Assemble an entire piece of furniture by myself. This was a huge one because if you know ANYTHING about my husband… you know that he can build or fix anything. Literally anything. It’s insane. BUT because of that awesome talent of his, I typically leave the building up to him. When we redid our living room though, I decided it was time to check one off the bucket list. I assembled our cabinets ENTIRELY by myself… with very little injury. Ok, let me explain, I was trying to put the top of the cabinet on and I shifted, took a step and the side of my foot caught the sharp end of the hammer and well… the hammer won that fight. I feel so accomplished though when I look at the cabinet. I carry around pride, knowing that I did it!

SO, this Friday, I get to check off a HUGE bucket list item. I’m flying to Georgia all by myself. Not only that… but this will be the first time I’ve ever left Bennett longer than 5 hours for work. Say a prayer for me ok??  Now that it is only a few days away, I’m getting more excited than nervous. I’m in a wedding down in GA and so I decided to fly and rent a car instead of drive. This allowed me to spend more time with Bennett that morning, celebrating his birthday, while still making it to the rehearsal in GA. It will be a big day for me! I’ll also be driving an hour through Atlanta to get to the resort. Pray I don’t get lost!!! SO, realistically, I’m checking off three things for my bucket list….

1. Fly alone
2. Rent a car
3. Drive in a different state alone

Miss independent over here! 😛 Just kidding. In all seriousness, having a bucket list like that became so important to me when I kept hearing of friends whose grandpa’s died and the grandmas can literally do nothing because they had depended on their husbands their entire life. We never expected to lose my dad, but I’m so thankful that my mom was an independent woman who could still run a household and work. I want to make sure that I still know how to do anything and everything even if I decide to let Patrick do it instead.

Over the past 5 years, I’ve never taken a trip away from home by myself. Patrick typically has taken one or two trips a year, but when I started to think about it, I realized that I haven’t! When you’re married, you tend to just do everything together. It wasn’t until I started planning my GA trip that I realized this is my first time doing a trip by myself. I’m excited yall!

SO, I have two more big bucket list items that will be getting checked off in the next month or two but I’ll save those for another blog post. 🙂

AND not all of my bucket list items are domestic 😉 So don’t worry.

Do you have any bucket list items you want to share? What’s the most recent one you checked off? Have any tips for flying or renting a car?