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Joshua and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Friday, August 13th. To back track a bit, when he asked me to be his in 2009, he asked me on a note and slipped it into a children’s book we were reading. I of course checked yes and it has brought us here, a year later.
Going into the night, the only thing I knew for sure that we were doing was having dinner at St. Elmo’s. Devour Downtown was going on, so we were able to eat there for half the price.
When he got off work on Friday, he texted me, asking me to meet him at Thai Cafe at 6:45. I knew we weren’t eating there, but rather doing something in Broadripple. We started walking down the strip when it dawned on me that we were going to Half Baked Pottery and Gifts. I’d been to a similar place in Bloomington and had mentioned to Joshua a few weeks before that I would like to go to and paint a piece or two.
We took a few minutes picking out what pieces we wanted to paint and then picked out our paints. I haven’t done a lot of painting and wasn’t sure exactly how everything would turn out but it was fun to try something fairly new. Joshua did an amazing job on his piece.
Here is his bowl (which he stuffs full of popcorn) and my plate (there are lots of mistakes and I’m no artist, 8-13-09 is the date of our official togetherness, the lyric is from an Augustana song ((which is where we met)))::
When we were done painting our pieces, we left for the second part of our date, dinner at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse. We decided to dine there as a part of Devour Downtown. Our meal included different choices but we both ordered their famous shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, Fillet Mignon, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner and we shared creme brulee and chocolate cherry pudding cake for dessert. The most scrumptious bread was served throughout the meal. It was all delicious.
After dinner, we took a walk on the canal while we waited until the next appointed time for Joshua’s final act. During the weekend of our anniversary, the Perseid meteor shower was going on. The IMA offered a night out on their 100 Acres, for participants to bring a blanket and watch for shooting stars. While we did go, Joshua only saw one while were eaten alive by mosquitoes. We decided it may be too light in that area and went up to his place to get the dogs to try a spot out at the church we go to. Again, only one star was seen, this time by me. Nonetheless, it was a nice escape and the night was autumn like, so it was a very fitting end to a great evening.
When August 13th, 2010 rolled up, I couldn’t believe how fast time had flown by in the past year. It really felt like such a short amount of time since I had poked Joshua at the Augustana show and since I had found the note asking me to be his. I can’t believe how many memories we packed in to a whole year. I’m completely thrilled to call him my own, to have him to protect me from nightmares at night and to get his kisses even when I’ve been a grumpy butt. No one has ever loved me so completely and patiently has he has. I don’t always deserve it, but I’m working every day to love him more perfectly. I love our present and can’t wait for every future day.
I love you, Joshua Thomas.
Joshua’s 27th birthday was a few weeks ago and to celebrate he wanted to go camping and canoeing. He’d never been canoeing before the trip, whereas I had been a few times when I was younger at camp. He researched places we could go and found a place, Sugar Valley (I highly recommended checking it out) right outside Turkey Run that was very modestly priced that offered both canoeing and camping. Turkey Run was booked full (Labor Day weekend) but the canoe company had a small campground. We left Friday when he got off work, after dropping the pups off with his friends and grabbing a bite to eat at Chick-Fil-a.
Once arriving, we checked in and made our way to our campsite. There were 8-10 sites in a little wooded area and only one other site was being used. It was near nightfall but we set up the tent with little ado and then got to the building a fire. After a few attempts, we had a roaring fire. We toasted marshmallows and munched on smores. It was an absolutely perfect night with just a little chill in the air. We were pretty exhausted as we both had had long days at work and we would be getting up early the next morning, so we headed to bed around 11pm.
The next morning, we woke up naturally, ate a yummy breakfast of Kashi Pumpkin Spice granola bars, watermelon and cantelope. We packed up our site, checked out and drove the 30 seconds down the road to book our canoe trip. We decided on a shorter trip as it was our first venture of the sort and we also wanted to do some hiking in Turkey Run. We arrived at just the right time, we only waited about 10 minutes before our bus was ready to take us to the launching point.
The trip we chose to do was 3.5 miles. After getting our canoe, we carried it out into the river, which was shallow in many areas because of the lack of rainfall. The water was warm, which was surprising because the weather had a bit of chill to it that morning. The moment we were off in the canoe we knew we had picked the right adventure and had found a new discovered hobby. If you’ve ever been canoeing, you understand the feeling of a relaxing flow underneath and beautiful surroundings. There were a lot of beautiful rock formations and the trees bore down around the river causing this feeling of fullness and escape. The river flows under many covered bridges and runs through Turkey Run. It was absolutely a perfect day. It was amusing to see Josh get the hang of canoeing. We had some steering mishaps and may have almost flipped the canoe a few times. I certainly got quite wet from my clumsiness, not to mention, the constant state of laughter we were in didn’t help to steady me out either.
Once we made it down river, we rode back to our car which we took into Turkey Run. We were ravenous and had a nice picnic while I warmed up from being soaked throughout our trip. There was a car show going on in the entrance to the state park, so we walked over and looked around. It was really quite neat to see so many old, beautiful cars. Once we had our fill, we decided on a trail and scouted it out. It was quite crowded at first, but once we got out on our own, on the trail (which was labeled VERY RUGGED) the crowd thinned out immensely. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but we did see a few beautiful butterflies and even what we believe to be a shrew. It was a tiny cute ball of gray fur. The trail we were on, wasn’t too rough but it was certainly fun to get through it. There were moments when there was no trail at all, we simply had to climb over rocks. They have these huge ladders to help you down the ledges. The line was so backed up that we decided to take the dangerous route, it felt something like what I imagine rock climbing in true form would. The whole trail was beautiful and a nice breath of something aside from the city.
Once we were thoroughly exhausted, we called it a day and headed back to Indy for Joshua’s birthday dinner.
Although it was Joshua’s birthday, it really felt like a gift for me too. It was a beautiful, perfect weekend that was very hard to escape (I don’t think I have yet, completely) the following week. All I could think of when I was sitting in class was how I wanted to be out on the river or around the campfire.
I’m looking forward to this autumn which is full to the brim with exciting adventures, to October, my favorite month. I really think it’ll be the best one yet.
Happy Birthday, Joshua. I love you and I loved every moment with you.
I'm an exuberant 20 something year old seeking, exploring and finding my way.
