I met Jared up at the Smith cabin on Odell Lake on August 10th 2007. However I should set the stage a little first. My cousin Joel had been living with my mom after he was done in the military and through the close bond formed between them and Tracy (his then future wife) it allowed for mom and eventually me to be invited up for cabin weekends at Tracy's family cabin. Mom went up two weekends before I was able to and when I was finally able to have a weekend off that corresponded with a cabin weekend she was the one who struck up conversation with Jared first. They talked for about 20 min and then she turned to me and finally introduced us. I started to notice him when I fell into his lap pretending to be a claw foot tub for a game of sharaides.
Jared out on Kelly's boat
Saturday evening Jared and I decided to go for a canoe ride out to Shelter Cove to see the resort. Once we left the dock we were sent off by a group of guys singing love boat songs...During the ride we talked about all sorts of things, we really had a great conversation. Later I found out that on this ride was when he decided he wanted to peruse something with me. A few days later I received a friend invite on Myspace, we talked a while online but once we exchanged phone numbers we have talked on the phone almost every night since.
Our first date was up at Alshea Falls, we planned for him to pick me up and then we would head out some where. I was so impressed, he had everything all figured out. He had even figured out where an additional water fall was near by so we were able to go cross country to find a different trail to lead to the falls. He and I talked so much during this time; about our relationships with God, our hopes for the future, some of our pasts. We were very real with each other, I felt very connected and excited about what the future might hold.
During the 2nd cabin weekend Jared brought up his canoe and we went for a long paddle around the lake. We left before sunrise which allowed for us to watch the sunrise up over Willimate Pass from the middle of the lake.
We landed a few times and hiked around, one of these times we sat and talked on a rock for a long time, after pulling on his sweatshirt string "just because it was there" he finally reached out for my hand "just because it was there". A while later we heard the boat rounding the bend into the bay with lots of giggles; my mom, Mamma Gail, and Tracy decided to come stalk us and see how things were going. Jared and I quickly hopped off our rock perch and scurried up into the forest. Hiding behind the trees was our first hug after I had fallen over a long...some times it is a good thing to be a klutz :D Once we decided it was time to go we got he canoe ready and started to paddle back, unfortunately the wind had changed and we were having to paddle into the wind in very choppy white capped waves. After about 30 min of paddling to not much avail a very nice fishing couple offered to pull us back in to our cabin. Once we got back from our 6 hour adventure we were pretty tired, so we took a nap on the couch while holding hands.
September 22nd was Joel and Tracy's wedding. With all the bonding with the two of them I was blessed to become close friends with Tracy, so much so that she gave me the honer of asking me to be a brides maid. The weekend of the wedding finally arrived, and with all of the planning and preparation involved Jared and I were very excited to escape away that night for a walk up to the railroad behind the cabin. We had been becoming much closer over the past few weeks but as I kept telling my girl friends and roommates he was the "potential new boy". During our walk we finally decided that we wanted to become officially exclusive with each other. I was so excited, I was finally able to turn my ring around (I wear a Claddagh ring from Ireland which depending on the direction it faces signifies ones relationship status). We walked hand in had for a long ways in the woods and along the rail road. We finally found a nice spot to sit against the hillside over looking the lake and stopped to talk more. While sitting there it seemed like he was about to lean in for our first kiss, but then a train whistle sounded and two trains ended up passing us. Finally it passed and we were able to snuggle back down with out fear of being caught by the drivers and getting yelled at. It seemed like hours of staring up at the stars talking though it was probably only a short amount of time. He finally leaned over and we shared our first kiss. The next day after the wedding my mom was so excited we were finally together that she requested pictures of us kissing, this started the long trail of kissy face pictures that Jared and I have started.
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