Ape Caves: The Beginning

I love this picture. It’s currently hanging above our mantle in our dining room—until we exchange it for a wedding picture. It was taken at Ape Caves back in January of this year. Mike invited me to go on this activity with the single adults in Oregon. It was the first time that I had seen him since we met in Astoria. I remember getting out of my car and he was waiting there with Joseph, his roommate. Mike walked over and gave me the best hug of my entire life. (Best hug up to that point. We’ve had even better ones since!) We were the first ones there and ended up ditching the rest of the group and going on ahead.

What a wonderful hike! He kept giving me his hand to help me over the boulders, rocks, small stones, miniature pebbles. I of course, let him. After that, I knew that he was someone I definitely wanted to date.

Two things about this picture:
1- When it was taken, my younger brother, Kevin, was actually standing just behind us. We, uh, used the miracle of Photoshop and deleted him after Mike and I started dating. Sorry, Kev. We love you dearly.
2- This is actually the second picture that was taken with Mike and me together. The first one was taken months before we started dating. It was one of us goofing off in a maritime museum in Astoria, Oregon, the day after we met in September 2009. Sadly, that photograph was lost with 3500 others when my hard drive crashed a few months ago. Out of all the pictures that I had, the loss of the picture with Mike and me was the only one that made me cry. Oh well. That event now allows me to make this important public service message: It’s a good idea to back up all your photos. Frequently. I’m also glad that if it had to happen, it was before marriage and kids came along.