Mayhem with Molly

I know that most of you want to bury 2016, and I’ll admit, it was kind of majorly terrible for me too, but one nice little chunk of happiness did develop in my life last year. Her name is Molly.

Let me tell ya’ ’bout Molly.

You know that super fast friend that is always armed with an arsenal of the quickest and most sarcastically amazingly perfect one liners? The one that says exactly what you were thinking, but saves you from having to actually say it? …. Yup. That’s Molly.

Last year, I got to know Molly via the interwebs, and fell in love with her witty comebacks and tweets. Lots of crying laughing faces and heart eye emojis, guys. Once we verified that neither of us were catfish, and I effectively proved I wasn’t actually an 800 pound man named Eugene with a dead cat collection, we finally met up for a real life run! We spent the day running trails, laughing at the same stupid things, and rolling our eyes at the others. I remember that day after we ran, I grabbed a water bottle out of my trunk. Molly glanced a look inside. When she saw my disheveled display of nasty, sweat-filled, definitely-forgot-those-were-there, unwashed clothes, shoes, and water bottles, she just shrugged with a lack of judgment and said, “Well, it’s cleaner than my house.” I knew then that we would be friends for life.

So one morning last fall, I needed to make a 4 hour drive from Georgia to Tennessee to photograph my Mom and Pop’s cabin for our new running tour gig.  And then,  I needed to turn right back around and come straight home to carpool my kids to their after school programs.

Ugh. I do not want to drive this alone….Who is disturbingly spontaneous and uninterested in normal life enough to drive to another state and back home with me in one day?

*taps out text*

“Molly, do you want to drive to Tennessee with me really early in the morning, and then maybe eat a donut or two, snap some pics, and run in the mountains if we have time? Then drive back home to Georgia before dinner?”

“Donuts? …..Mountains? Yeah. Sounds good.”

SOLD! To the woman with wild abandon, and slightly questionable priorities!

The next morning, Molly and I met at an ungodly hour and drove to Tennessee.

We started driving around 5am. We also started shootin’ the breeze around 5am. We reached the park right around sunrise, and were just in time to see the sun greet the Smokies in all of her spectacular Fall glory.

We took that in for a minute, then continued onto the cabin. I snapped some pics, aaaand we chatted.

Then we ate donuts.  And in between bites, we kept yappin’. Also, it’s worth noting that I feel God himself must be incredibly pleased with the intoxicating scent of Krispy Kreme in the morning. So heavenly.

Then, we finally made it up into the mountains. Together we tackled 10 beautiful and challenging miles along a crisp Autumn Appalachian Trail. I had such a blast playing tour guide and showing Molly all of my favorite spots; the best of them being a jagged rock outcropping with a cliff side I like to call “The Bulge”. Molly is deathly afraid of heights, but she crawled out onto The Bulge for a photo opp anyway. My kind of girl! The whole run we were huffing and puffing, but I assure you, one our lips were moving at all times.

After our run, we drove the 4 hours back home completely drenched in sweat, and covered in donut paraphernalia. When it was all said in done, Molly and me had talked and laughed nonstop for over 12 hours! I was hoarse for at least a day and a half after the fact! And it was so worth it. The trip absolutely solidified our growing friendship. I mean, I love the woman to pieces. It’s not every day you can spend 8 hours in the car with someone and leave feeling better for it. We had the time of our lives.

For me, this was further proof that you don’t always have to jet-set across the globe or drive across the country to lead a fun and adventurous life. I, for one, am  certainly guilty of believing that. I daydream of wild adventures and frequent epic travel. I have a lot of fear of missing out while I’m just doing regular old suburbanite things.

But life is what happens when you’re waiting on life to happen. And sometimes, that means you just have to say yes to a spontaneously kooky text. Adventure is everywhere.