Four Years Ago...

September 2, 2007

 Last Friday Charlie and I celebrated being married for four years. It is crazy that it has been that long since that very hot but very beautiful day in September when we said "I do". A lot has changed since then. I remember thinking before I got married that not a lot changed when you got married. I mean, how different could it be? So we share a last name and a checking account, so what?  I couldn't have been more wrong, and I could have never imagined how our relationship would mature and change over the next four years. To celebrate all of that (and the end of summer) we went to Hocking Hills State Park, which is about an hour or so south of Columbus.

 When people think of Ohio, they usually think of farm country. What a lot of people do not realize is that southern, especially southeastern Ohio, is anything but. It is really very much Appalachia, and it is beautiful.

We stayed in a little cabin just outside of Logan, OH. It was a tiny little thing with a lofted bedroom and a jacuzzi tub and fire pit out back.

Our cabin

 Old Man's Cave was where we started exploring on Saturday. I remember as a child being totally fascinated by the notion that someone lived there, in that very cave, for decades, and even died there. How was that possible?! Didn't he get cold?

Old Man's Cave

 From there we hiked to Cedar Falls. It was a 3 mile hike or so, and it was very, very hot on Saturday. We're talking 100 degrees hot. And humid. But we were prepared and we hiked all the way to Cedar Falls and then found a rock by the water and ate our lunch.

I think Old Man's Cave? So annoying that I can't remember!

Cedar Falls

 All of the kids were having a heyday in the water by Cedar Falls. That girl above was particularly cute:)

The next day we hiked the Cantwell Cliffs. This is where I almost died when I hit my head so hard I started sliding over the edge of the cliff. Luckily for me I caught myself when my jaguar instincts kicked in and I put my hand down to stop myself.

Cantwell Cliffs

After Cantwell Cliffs we went and checked out Ash Cave. One of the biggest rock formations in the park, it is really, really cool.

Ash Cave

After Ash Cave we decided to head to Athen's for the rest of the day. On the way, I kid you not, we passed a turkey vulture going to TOWN on a dead deer carcass. Too bad we didn't get any good pictures. He kept flying away when we drove by. We ate at a great Mexican Restaurant and samples some of the local beers before heading back to the cabin for the night.

All in all it was a great weekend of being outside and just being with each other. Sometimes I think we need that, especially with him being gone so much and our summers always being so busy with travelling around to see people.

It is hard to believe that it's been four years since we got married. It's been basically a decade since we started dating. For crying out loud my littlest sister was in middle school and now she's all grown up with a real person job. Crazy how time flies.

I had no way of predicting how much would change in the last four years. We've lived in three houses, Charlie has had two jobs, I rode my bike across the USA, we've been to four different countries, we've fought, we've laughed and we've slowly learned what it means to be married and how to give and take. Who knows what the next four years will bring us. I can't wait to find out:)

"Our dreams, and they are made out of real things

Like a, shoebox of photographs

With sepia toned loving.

Love is the answer,

At least for most of the questions in my heart,

Like why are we here? Where do we go?

And how come it's so hard?

It's not always easy and 

Sometimes life can be deceiving,

I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together."

- Jack Johnson, "Better Together"