Most people, if planning their 25th anniversary trip do not say, “I hope there’s a hurricane during our vacation.” I am definitely most people. It’s true that coming up against a force of nature away from home is unsettling – and that’s what happened to Michael and I last week.

On Monday morning we left for Rosemary Beach, Florida to celebrate our anniversary. We had been planning our trip for several months and although bad weather was in the forecast for a few of the days, we were in good spirits. But by the time we arrived Monday afternoon, we realized it may be a bit worse than just “bad weather.”

The funny thing is: at Rosemary Beach no one seemed to even be thinking about it! There were kids and parents everywhere, riding bikes, playing on the beach- it was as though they just didn’t care. The weather channel advised otherwise : there was potential for us to be in the cone of the predicted storm named “Helene.”

To say we didn’t know what to do was an understatement. While we waited for wisdom to dawn, we went to the beach. Monday evening we watched the sunset and it was so peaceful, it was hard to imagine a hurricane was on the way. We got up the next morning and went to the beach again, fully expecting to be rained out in the afternoon. But, we weren’t. Wednesday morning – the same thing – we went down to the beach – but no sign of storms yet.

However, Wednesday evening it appeared that everyone was vacating – and shops and restaurants were closing for Thursday and maybe Friday. So we bought some waters and stashed some food in our little fridge. At this point, the map of the cone had leaned to the east and we were several counties away from Helene’s path. We decided to wait it out. That meant Thursday we would probably just hang out in our room.

But – Thursday turned out to be the best adventure day of our vacation. Every few hours, rain jackets on, umbrella in hand, we would walk down to the beach and look for signs of the storm arriving. We walked around the little town of Rosemary Beach – and saw so much beauty even in the rain! It sure didn’t seem dangerous – although the waves were coming in faster and stronger as the day progressed.

At 6:15pm , after we had eaten our little dinner from the fridge – I looked out our window. Instead of the gray overcast of the day, the sky was a glowing pink. We put on our jackets one more time and hurried down to the beach front.

What we saw was surreal; I always love the golden hour at this time of day, but this was so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. And, in the middle of this beauty, I captured two tiny little birds, living their best life – scampering through the sand and the rain. I couldn’t help but think of Michael and I on our journey – life together – still aglow in love after these 25 years, living our own best life. What more could we ask for? Not just surviving the storm together, but enjoying the adventure, rain or shine! (or hurricane, I suppose!).

Here’s to many more Bright and Shining years together, come rain or come shine!