I was a stay-at-home mother with a master's degree, stale chip crumbs on my shirt, and a marriage that was already done in my heart. I knew God had dropped something in me. What I didn't know was whether I had what it took to follow it. This is the story of twelve years, one good friend, and the moment I finally said yes.

I almost didn't go. A rainy birthday weekend, no party, yet premeditated plans that I had no interest in fulfilling as I watched the grey sky swell. Just me, my cousin's polka dot rain boots I found in the attic, and a decision that changed something in me. I sat alone in the mud of Piedmont Park at the Atlanta Jazz Festival and felt loneliness drop in my stomach like the bottom of a roller coaster giving way. I noticed it. I didn't leave. What happened next taught me everything about evolution through action, keeping promises to yourself, and what it actually looks like to show up for the life you said you wanted — even when it's uncomfortable, even in the rain.