When Klee and I met in 2009, there was a spark—a universe-altering moment that, if you blinked, you might have missed. Except we didn’t miss it. We jumped in headfirst, feet never touching the ground. Within weeks, we were on the road, leaving behind everything we knew for a life we couldn’t quite define but felt in our bones. People called it crazy. Honestly, they weren’t wrong, but it was the best kind of crazy—the kind that makes life worth living.
This week, while Klee healed and started getting her energy back, I dug through some old files and stumbled across pictures of us in our Florida studio. The photographer (Kristian Breeze) asked us to “just be ourselves,” and these snapshots are proof we took that direction seriously. It’s just us—playful, weird, and totally in love with life and each other. We had already been together eight years when those photos were taken. Eight years of creating, dreaming, failing spectacularly, dusting ourselves off, and trying again.
Looking at those photos reminded me how extraordinary this journey has been. Neither of us knew what would happen when we packed up that truck all those years ago. We only knew one thing: we were all in. Together.
If I had listened to my head back then, none of this would have happened. My head had all the reasons why this was a terrible idea. It had a checklist of why leaving my old corporate life behind, taking risks, and chasing what felt right in my gut was doomed to fail. My head was also telling me that it wasn’t a good idea to get into a relationship at this time. My head had a lot of warnings, and some of them even made sense. But my heart and my gut? They knew better.
When my mom said, “You found someone who is your kind of crazy,” I thought she was joking. But she wasn’t. She was right. I leap before I look. I barrel into projects I have no business starting because some voice inside whispers, You’ll figure it out. And I do. But it’s only because Klee is there rooting for me (no matter how insane my ideas are)—my partner, my best friend, and quite possibly the most amazing human I’ve ever met.
These last few months have been tough. Watching her go through health struggles has been hard, but I’ve been amazed by her strength, her quiet determination, and her ability to stay hopeful, even when things seemed uncertain. I’ve thought a lot about how much she’s impacted my life, how much better the world feels with her in it, and how grateful I am that we found each other.
Your heart doesn’t deal in logic; it speaks the language of passion and purpose. Your gut doesn’t care about the odds; it’s tuned into something deeper—something that tells you where you’re meant to go, even if it doesn’t make sense on paper.
Following your heart and gut doesn’t mean you won’t fail. Oh, you will. Trust me, we’ve failed a lot. But it’s through those failures that we’ve built the life we have now—one filled with art, music, community, love, and memories we wouldn’t trade for anything.
To our community—our tribe of beautiful, creative, supportive humans who love us and our art—you’ve made this journey even more incredible. Whether you’ve cheered us on from the sidelines, joined our Patreon, or simply sent us good vibes when we needed them most, you’ve been a part of our story. Thank you for believing in us, for laughing with us, for showing up.
Klee is eager to get back into the studio next week. We still have a long healing road ahead, but we’re on it together, and that’s what matters.
So here’s the food for thought I promised: Sometimes your head will try to talk you out of the very thing your soul is calling you to do. It will give you reasons, statistics, and worst-case scenarios. But your heart and your gut? They’ll whisper truths that logic can’t touch. Trust them. Trust yourself. Because the best adventures—the ones that lead to love, creativity, and the kind of life you’ll look back on with a smile—don’t come from playing it safe. They come from leaping into the unknown and trusting you’ll figure it out along the way.
Stay weird, stay wonderful, and follow your heart. The horizon is waiting.
With love and gratitude,
Rafi (and Klee, who will be back to feeling awesome in no time)
CONGRATULATIONS TO ERICA!
