The Crash After the Joy

Nobody talks about the crash after the joy.

The part where the trip ends and your body doesn’t bounce back like everyone else’s does.

The part where “normal” memories cost you days of recovery.

We had the best Christmas.

We made core memories.

We laughed.

We traveled.

We celebrated.

And then we drove home.

Road trip day one looked like breakfast at Starbucks, Buc-ee’s for lunch, Panera for dinner, and a Holiday Inn stop.

Sometimes it’s about endurance, not distance.

And road trip day two was the quiet kind of tired...

Rain on the windshield...

Slow miles...

Shared exhaustion...

When we finally got home… we crashed.

We stayed in bed for days.

Movies playing.

Pets curled up with us.

Adrian massaged my legs and feet...

Helped my body come back down after the packing, the driving, the travel, the overstimulation, the pain

No big gestures.

Just care.

Just presence.

Just love that shows up when it counts.

This is what living with a chronic illness looks like.

What feels like a normal trip to others… costs days of recovery for me.

The joy was real...

But so was the crash afterward...

And while my body was shutting down…

Adrian’s was still healing.

He’s still recovering from his accident.

Physical therapy has been going well before and after the Christmas trip… and then as if we needed anything else… he sprained his ankle on top of everything.

I swear I need to wrap that man in bubble wrap...ha

But we’re doing it...

Together.

Physical Therapy...

Chiropractor for me.

Massage booked too...

And in the middle of it all… I keep realizing something.

Marriage isn’t only big moments.

It’s the routines.

The shared spaces.

The quiet cards.

The “I choose you again” even when life is messy and bodies are exhausted.

Loving you looks like this.

It looks like stopping.

Resting.

Recovering.

It looks like helping each other come back to life after the world takes too much out of us.

And it looks like believing God is still present… even in the slow days.

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Kristen, Unfiltered Xo 💋