broken hearts, open road.

welcome to open hearts, open road. we are jess & luke, a [ late ] thirty-something couple from ottawa, canada, & we are pursuing a dream we've been dreaming of & saving for since this time last year. we are driving across the usa to vancouver island, & we are doing this in a gifted 2007 dodge grand caravan we lovingly [ & speedily ] converted into a camper van.

i have to be honest with you. initially this was just a road trip. for pleasure, for kicks. but as a result of a loss we suffered earlier this year, this trip is now a journey. for healing, for reconnecting, for finding some kind of happiness in this [ completely fucked up ] new reality we exist in.

for those of you that didn't know us prior to our starting this journey, i [ jess ] will tell you that my loving mother passed suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of january. for those of you that do know us, you'll know that her passing was devastating to all that knew her & has created a gaping hole in our lives. you will also know that our heartbreak very nearly caused us to abandon our dream. however, after much soul searching, many a heart wrenching conversation between ourselves & with family, & very careful consideration we made the difficult decision to go ahead with our plan. & we did so because my mother was our champion. she was as excited about this journey as we were. we had her full support from the get go & we felt that we'd be doing her a disservice if we didn't follow through. so here we are, in a coffee shop in rhode island, on day three of our journey, writing this first post, introducing ourselves to you.

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