When Jack first told me he was applying for the World Race, it was March and he would be leaving in September. That sounds like a bunch of time in between – but I will first-hand vouch that it definitely isn’t! And before I knew it, he was accepted. When the time came closer to his launch we decided we wanted to make this work. A little crazy, right? When I think back to the summer I know I was thinking, “the guy in front of me will be leaving in a month and a half and I am really not ready.”
Then it was September 5th – I hated that day. I woke up feeling weird, unsettled, and uncomfortable. Where did six months go? Out the window?! His family and I helped him pack and seeing him with his huge backpack and daypack on hits you that he’s leaving tomorrow. Tomorrow. My definition of bittersweet stems from this because you are so happy, proud, and excited for him – but it hurts. A ton. There he was – standing in front of us with a Georgia State t-shirt on, his Chaco’s, and red shorts – he was leaving tomorrow and time snuck up on me. I was still not ready.
There are a bunch of things that happen when you’re in a relationship with someone on the World Race. They’ll message you words in another language (download Viber), you’ll want to be there too, you may get to watch awesome vlogs from their teammates or them, you can expect messages in the middle of the night (they are the best), the Internet will really be horrible sometimes, you’ll say “can you hear me?”, and you’ll live vicariously through their pictures (haha). It will get easier and harder simultaneously as time goes on – because your life goes on, and now I’m thinking – where did these eight months go? This is tough, harder than it sounded, goes by fast, goes by slow, swelled my heart with pride, and broken it.
For Jack and I, the hardest part was when we couldn’t talk for eight weeks because he was in Africa. One of the hardest parts for me was sitting in my room and knowing his flight was about to talk off from Chicago to Turkey. If we’re being honest, it still makes me sick to my stomach. But it has brought Jack and I closer, grown my faith, and taught me more in eight months than any eight months has ever taught me. Sometimes it has felt like I couldn’t do it and I wanted to beg him to come home early – I was jealous of his team, and if the opportunity came up I will almost promise you that I would’ve taken the next flight to which continent he was in. But what carries me through is knowing that Jack is having the time of his life, doing what he does the absolute best, serving people. And he is exactly where he is right now, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, because he is supposed to be.
If you’re dating someone on the World Race – you will never be ready for it. But God is. And you can’t, but Jesus can in you. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but Jack is everything I’ve prayed for. Go team Sons and Daughters!!!
Your number one fan,
Moll Doll
