FourNineTwenty
““Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet to see who they really are.””
It’s 2020 and the country is on lockdown. It’s also our 4-year anniversary and Josh and I went on a photo shoot. It’s a weird world right now, as we discovered the evening of our anniversary at a grocery store a bit south of Louisville, KY. (We’ve been cooped up on a campground in a small town in KY, so this was new to us!) One way in. One way out. Arrows and signs telling people which way to go. People in masks. It was weird and eerie. Josh didn’t like the feel of ‘communism’ — he wanted out of there. I was trying to figure out what country we were in — this didn’t feel like any I’d ever been to.
I’m sure some people who see this post will judge us or shame us for going out — that’s okay. It’s none of our business what people think about us. (Thank you Chris Guillebeau for that life lesson). We’ve quarantined ourselves into our ~250 sq ft RV for 3 weeks, so yes — we exercised our liberty to celebrate our anniversary alone and outside.
We encountered 2 people on the sidewalk during our time out and around Elizabethtown, KY. We also discovered some super wicked delicious millet flax garlic infused crackers and vegan smoky bacon dip. I learned that it’s not easy to find a bathroom when everything’s closed. And we went 0 for 2 on the only restaurants we were interested in eating at — both were closed until the end of COVID. Not even take-out.
ABOVE: Iglesia la Vina. You don’t have to speak Spanish to interpret what this says. We thought it was pretty cool — and very fitting on our anniversary — to see an old church repurposed into a winery, like St. Joseph’s Brewery we visited in Indianapolis a few years back. Turns out, at the time of writing this, I discovered it actually is a church. Whoops. (We’re still going to pretend it’s a winery for the sake of our photo shoot memories. :)
BELOW: Tulips in Elizabethtown, KY town square — a super charming downtown with shops and dining we would have loved to explore and support. Maybe this is our way of showing support? Spreading the word so that maybe one day someone reading this will visit the town and spread some love…and eat some food! :D
Josh was being very, VERY patient in the photo above. All he had on his mind was Indian food. I think that’s why his smile looks so excited. It’s not because we’re on round 15 of burst shots at our first location — it’s because he knows the next stop is INDIAN food and if I can just score one good photo, he can eat. Indian food never happened. #covid
Next up was this old blue building with nice yellow and red trim — a great spot for a romantic pic, if you ask me. It was in that romantic-ish shot attempt, I learned that Josh decided it would be a good idea to wear bright blue and yellow socks with images of pancakes that reads,
“One Hot Stack”
for a photo shoot. We turned that romantic party foul into the grand slam of this photo opp. I actually think it turned out well. :D And it became the inspiration for all other photos in this series — working with what you have to make it work — your ‘raw goods’ as we say.
Then there was this little guy — I couldn’t say no to a photo with him. Isn’t he cute?
I asked Josh to sit in front of Vibe Coffee for this shot because it’s really reflective of who we are, what we like and the time we’re in. Cool coffee shops, organic food and a time when normally these retailers would be open at 5pm on a Thursday, but today they weren’t. Reflecting on life.
On our way to hunt down food, we passed by this barber shop. At first sight, I thought we would make a fun photo out of the setting, but as we parked and took in the scene in front of us, there was more going on than just a fun shot.
In the front door hangs a sign that reads “Shut down by Corona 19” in drooping paint, sort of like out of a horror show. I can’t help but wonder what’s being said through these five words. Are they shut down forever? Temporarily? Was it voluntary? Or do these words suggest perhaps this ‘shut down’ was forced upon them?
In the right window sit two framed quotes. On the left,
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the Rain. ”
And on the right, my favorite Bible verse of all time (such a favorite that it’s actually printed in the footer on all of the pages of our site). So it’s very fitting that we stumbled upon this place, to reflect on the world today.
“For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I’d love to know the owner(s) of this family barber shop — hear their story, learn about their life. I’m sure there’s a lot of stories that have been told over the years inside this little barbershop in Elizabethtown, KY.
So there you have it! How Josh and I spent our fourth anniversary. Not exactly what we had planned and not how the past three have gone (surprise campground gatherings in GA, AZ, and TN and an added bonus of Josh’s grandpa’s 90th birthday for our two-year), but this will certainly go down as an anniversary not to be forgotten.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and scroll through. Hope you enjoyed our photo shoot. :D
