Wild Adventure?

My day started with -

"I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see you in such a perfect couplehood; truly makes me heart sing."

A former (and future) writing teacher had been going through old emails and found one from me that she said was a "joy". She thanked me for it and hoped the sweet man and I were well. She knows him a little because he's been attending a monthly men's writing group that she leads. I sent her the above photo from last weekend with this explanation

"Yep still playing guitar but not nearly as much as I was. Cycles come and go. I have someone in part to blame (time redirecting) but only in part :).

We went on an adventure this weekend with the outdoors group in which we met. We stayed at this cabin with 4 others that we had to ski into (only 1 k but still was a stretch for me) with our food (which he took care of because I thought it sounded like a lot of work) and belongings on a sled. I loved it. The cold was fine with the extra clothing I wore, IMMENSELY helped by the lack of wind.

I hope you'll see him at a men's writing group soon.

Tammy"

Then she replied,

"oh my gosh, Tammy, that is a wonderful story! Please continue to share these great stories! The wild adventures you do that I can only imagine doing in this lifetime... beautiful... I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see you in such a perfect couplehood; truly makes me heart sing. Maybe we can all hang sometime and jam! :) xoxo"

Last year I had looked at this trip and thought it was too much for me. But with encouragement and confidence from someone I trust and feel comfortable with, it was doable. "Adventure?" Yes. "Wild?" Hmm. I guess because it is my life it doesn't seem that way, but maybe it could be.

Then mid-morning I got a phone call from a friend asking if I had time to listen to a poem by Mary Oliver called "Rope".

"Sure!" After the poem I asked, "Do you want to hear about what I did last weekend?"

"Sure."

"Have I told you about the guy I'm dating?" This friend lives far away and though we'd spoken a couple times this fall, that surrounded a big event in his life so I wasn't sure if I'd mentioned it.

"No," he said.

So I briefly filled him in. My friend then said that when I'd left a message for him this fall, "I was kind of shocked with the amount of happiness in your voice." He thought something was up, but I hadn't said anything.

Anyway, two people reiterating in one day that I have a lot to be grateful for...

including future plans that slowly build. Last April we reserved a camper cabin for New Years because a friend had sent a link to a cool new park/cabins and it was filling up fast. All the weekends through October were already full, so we needed to pick a winter one and I wanted to wait until there might be snow. We had no idea if we'd still be dating 8 months later, but we were both completely comfortable with the idea. Besides one of us could still use it even if we didn't go together. Anyway, we enjoyed that so much we've already reserved another cabin in a county park for next New Years and I just received the confirmation email today. After living an ENTIRE life with zero plans for New Year's, this is a welcome change of pace.