Muahahaha, dun, dun, dunnnn!
A newly wed guy from church asked Jordan, the other day, how the first year of marriage was for us. Seems like we've been hearing from a lot of people lately that the first year is, "always the rough one," well, hmmm... if year one is the worst and it only gets better from here then let me tell you, I am looking forward to the rest of our lives together!! Sure we had simple fights, the obvious stuff a couple deals with when combining two lifestyles into one both can agree upon, but nothing major. Definitely nothing either one of us ever thought was anything worth even thinking of leaving the other over.
We just passed the One Year Mark and were able to celebrate with a rafting trip down the Green River (Great segway, huh? I'm clever, if you didn't already know. Jordan would be laughing and rolling his eyes at how funny I think I am if he were reading over my shoulder.) Jordan planned a 4 day, 3 night trip that started at the base of the river in Colorado and rafted us back into Vernal, Utah. It was AWESOME! So great, really. There were 23 people, 6 rafts each with a guide. They made us breakfast, lunch and dinner, very little cleaning duty on our parts. I think the most work we had to do was assembling and disassembling our tents every morning and evening at each new location (but you know I made Jordan do that!) The whole trip was so cool though, I definitely suggest you do a multi-day river trip if you ever get the chance! I have two favorite things... I liked being away from everything-- you can really lose yourself out there because you are literally cut off from all civilization (aside from satellite phones for emergencies each guide carries), no fake-tree cell phone towers, it's all real nature at it's finest! I've always thought I could live like "The Village," a throwback to pioneer times. The other thing I really liked the most was the COMRADERY! You are on this 4 day trip with 20 something strangers; over the course of 4 days you have to learn to depend on them. So Day One was the getting to know each other part and it may have been a little awkward, like any first meet. We were just thrown into boats with strangers, about 5 to each boat, and you're just chillin' down the river for a few hours before lunch. By lunch you know a little bit about the others in your boat and a lot about nature, because to avoid awkward silences as your new friends are just staring at you, you ask the guide all sorts of silly questions from rock and cloud formation to water temperature. Dinner time the first night was great, though. Everyone is all exited, a little tired, but really hungry. This is where we all start to talk and get to know each other. Starts with the typical, "So, Andy, what do you do?" but soon we are finding similarities and common ground on which to hold genuine conversation! It was great, we ate huge fajita burritos, everyone was sharing beer they had bought earlier, they were even offering up their mixers so Jordan and I could have a cola without feeling left out of the cool group because we hadn't even gotten out of the car at the bar stop. The first nights sleep I'll admit I was a little nervous one of my 23 seemingly normal new friends would turn out to be a Dexter sorta freak and machete us all to death before we even got to see our first big rapid, but that's just my normal overactive imagination.
By the second and third day families and couples are splitting up, kayaking in single 'duckies' or splitting boats so everyone could get a chance at the paddle boat. Five of the Six boats were oared by a single guide, but the last was a paddle boat that all riders had to participate to run. This was my favorite and unfortunately we didn't get a chance to ride until the last day. Katie was our guide on this boat and Jordan and I agree she was our favorite! Katie was so great at interacting with everyone on the trip. Her boat was definitely the party boat! She kept things lively with random games and lots of singing! I mean, you can really only pretend to be interested in rock formation and erosion for so long, ya' know! She did a great job of mixing the educational with the FUN! So, by the second and third day people are splitting up and entrusting their loved ones in the care of not only the guides, but their fellow boaters. Day four, on the paddle boat, I thought for sure this 10 year old kid, Daniel, who was about 39 pounds soaking wet was about to fly out of the front of the boat at the last rapid we hit. His mom was originally in the boat with us and had to keep telling him to hold on, "both hands Daniel, I'm serious!" but she went out for a dip and got picked up by the boat behind us... so here's her kid being all "I'm the king of the world!" and I'm up front paddling my little blistered hands away with the other 4 on our boat... and we hit a deep pocket and I swear he's going to pop right out. I yell. "both hands Daniel!" and he survives, (yeah, I'm a hero, no big deal, ha ha.) I love that sort of thing,-- that someone doesn't have to be paranoid that her kid is going to get hurt because she knows The Group is looking after him. We all bonded very quickly, once you've 'grooved' together there's no turning back! It was like LOST, you're thrown into this situation with all these different personalities that are just as likely to clash as they are to mix and you just see what happens. I think we had a really great group... at the end Jordan was saying to me, "It;'s like 'The Breakfast Club,' you bond for the time that's provided, but I don't think anyone has to expect to be lifelong friends." It is what it is. We were a tight little family for 4 days, we could trust each other and have fun with each other, but when it was over-- hugs were given, good-byes said, emails exchanged, and we'll send photos of our adventures together and whatnot, but I think keeping it what it was is precious. It was an adventure. A moment in life, where time, for four days stopped. And we all got to experience the beauty of that together!
Before we knew what we were getting ourselves into...
Lucky #546 Pork Chops
A little creative liberty!!
"I'm on a boat mutha...!"
Remember how we talked about the water temperature?
Apparently I wasn't listening!
...but Jordo thinks it's just peachy!
I may have been irrationally afraid of stocked
freshwater sharks, but I smiled through it!
Our lives for 4 days... jealous?
Lunch, Day One-- The Outcast.
Bee-U, tee-Ful!
Groovin' with a view!
You really don't know what love is until you've done
the double groove switch over together!
Lounging.
Jordan on a single 'duckie' during our silent float
through L'adore Canyon.
Isn't he adorable?
Scouting the rapids.
Trying to stay far away from the poison ivy.
Lazy Bum!
"CAAAAAANONNNNNBAAAALLLLL!!!"
Hikng the haunted hillside... Spoooooky!
'Butt Damn Falls' is about to rip one!
Long horned "deer" sheep.
Jordan was mad I bit his nip,what?
I was hungry for a s'more!
"Left a good job in the cit-ay, workin' for the man ev'ry
night n' day, but I never lost a minute uh-sleeping,
worried 'bout the way things might have been...
big wheels keep on turnin',
Proud Mary keep on burnin'...
Rollin,' rollin,' rollin' on the river!"
What a MAN!
Seriously, though, it is so much harder than it looks.
THIS IS LIFE!
You know wifey loves costume night.
Someone show my dad this picture. He'll die.
3 comments:
Oh, FAHHHBULOUS post. It was highly anticipated as is your next. I love the pictures. You did a good job at capturing our trip.
I am jealous. That trip looks amazing! Not sure if I could ever tear Ryan away from the internet for that long though...
Back to the start of your blog though, it does sort-of seem like too many couples our age are rushing into marriage. I still think you and Jordan rushed into it, but you are the exception, and I'm glad you did because I've never seen you happier.
I think a lot of people view it is a status symbol, or a rite of passage, although I blame the government for some of it, it's near impossible to live a comfortable life on your own these days. Never having been one to follow the crowd, I'm glad that Ryan and I have been together so long without being married. It has been a true test of our relationship, and while I just want to kill him some days, I'm sure that when we are finally married in another 18-ish months, we will stand the test of time.
Also, I think too many couples become a little lazy and selfish. Divorce is to easy and too common these days. When you vow to love one person for the rest of time, you should truly do everything in your power to help each other through good bad. Sure people can grow apart, but I think marriage is about learning to grow together. You can't always navigate through your own life at every moment, so it's best to have a co-pilot so that you navigate together.
slightly cheesy perhaps? but I'm not deleting it! ;)
2.5 years and we ARE *super* happy! :D It's so sad when people have such big problems so early in their marriage. They should never live downstairs, I guess, ha ha. For what it's worth regarding your theory, we've only ever lived upstairs.
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