Montana

We needed a getaway…. Bad. 2 people who enjoy traveling a lot and one who travels for work, then the world shuts down. Covid-19. No work travel. No personal travel. Brittany and I had the ability to work from almost anywhere but weren’t able to leave the state of Texas due to never ending appointments with doctors. Test this, test that, try this, try that. I’m so glad we didn’t give up.

Our third round of treatments had taken. We finally had a positive pregnancy test on October 3rd. It was that week that we decided to go home and see family. It needs to happen now. We consulted with our doctors and they agreed to let us go, as long as we would be extremely safe and go to all the necessary doctors visits that we would have needed to go to while in Texas. We packed up the car, our loveable golden retriever Montana Meyer, and hit the road. It was a freeing feeling knowing that we would be gone for a month or so. Family time was desperately needed as we had been home with limited interaction for the last 6 months.

We made a couple wonderful stops along the way. It’s a 30-hour drive so we knew it was going to be a bit of a jaunt. That first day, all we wanted to do was drive. We arrived in New Mexico and spent two lovely days with my cousin Bryce, his wife Kara, and their 3 incredible children. Next stop was Denver where we spent 5 days with two of our dearest friends, Bryan and Kendra. Another dear friend and wonderful travel companion Sierra joined us as well from Orange County. We spent 3 magical days in Denver and then headed up to a secluded cabin near Breckenridge for a few evenings. It was a glorious time but in the back of our minds, we were admittedly anxious to get to Montana and tell family the news. While in Denver, Brittany got additional blood tests, and fortunately everything continued to come back healthy and progressing along positively. We were obviously thrilled.

The Montana/Wyoming border soon appeared in our windshield. We could see for miles and anyone who has ever been to this part of the country knows it’s a place you could easily get lost in. Fortunately, we knew exactly where we were heading! Uncle Ralph and Aunt Darlene's house for a night in Billings, then onto see the Streeter Family in Ryegate for a night. Great evenings with both families led to some challenging departures. Additionally, we shared the news with both families at this time and asked them to keep it a secret. At this time, the quadruplets weren’t even in the picture. It’s amazing to look back on these days and think about how much my world would change only a few short days later. I didn’t even realize it, but four additional blessings were right in front of me this whole time.

Our next stop was Great Falls where we were eagerly anticipating a little “down time” with Brittany's family. My Mom had also driven over from Missoula and Brittany and I knew we would share the news with them that night. Our announcement gifts hadn’t arrived in time, but we weren’t waiting any longer. That night at the dinner table, we had Julie and my Mom open up a serving spoon that proclaimed, “Only the best moms get promoted to grandmas.” It took a moment to sink in, then the tears started. The news sunk in with Brent, who was seated at the head of the table and it was truly a magical moment.

Throughout the next week or so we would anxiously await the moment we could share the news with my Dad and Mary as well. We had just gotten to meet my little niece for the first time and almost spilled the beans then, but needed to wait a little longer. They didn’t have a clue what was in store when we sat them down in the living room at their wonderful home in Trout Creek, Montana. Sheer exasperation, joy, and shock as we filled them in on both pieces of news-pregnancy, plus 4. See below for when my Dad and Bonus Mom Mary found out we were pregnant, Dad's beer label, and when they heard we were having quadruplets!

These are priceless recollections of those amazing days that Brittany and I had only dreamed of before, continuing to hold out hope that someday they would become reality.