Today is a monumental day. Even in the confines of such a normal Wednesday, I find myself extremely thankful and extremely blessed. It's even raining outside right now which just adds to my love for this very moment.
Four years ago, today, and probably close to this very time, I met my best friend. I met my mountain man. It was the week I had just moved back from the beloved northwest, setting my feet once again upon the soil in which I grew up. My life still in boxes, my heart still in Longview. It was a time filled with longing for returning to where I had been forced to grow up, to the city in which my dreams had soared and had died, only to be slowly revived again before I left. But, home called me back, even though I had no real idea as to why.
I know now. In a week filled with tornados touching down closer than one would ever imagine in our little city, lives changed forever, mine was also changed. The day after the storm, I found myself with camera in hand, boots on my feet, and a ring in my nose: The picture of the place I had left. I can still remember the very thing I wore that day. It was before I cut all of my hair off once I became a barista and it drove me too crazy. I was wearing my deep maroon cowboy boots, skinny jeans, a t-shirt, and a brown vest.
In an effort to keep myself occupied and keep a grasp on what little art I had the desire to create, I offered to take photos of a friend's band at Everyday Joe's. Little did I know, I would have my wedding reception within those brick walls.
He walked in, hairy as ever. A mountain man with a full beard and ponytail. He wore a snap-button, plaid shirt and his jeans were rolled up, showing his ankles. I remember thinking how much I liked that. He wore flip flops on his feet. A mutual friend introduced us and our lives were forever changed. I also found out he was a musician and photographer. Before that moment, I was already planning wholeheartedly on moving back to the northwest. I was miserable, I questioned everything, I wanted to be anywhere but in Fort Collins. Until that night. Hook, line, and sinker.
I knew I would marry Ryan the day I met him. Now, we find ourselves here, May 23rd, 2012. We are almost three years into our marriage and everyday I fall even harder for him than the day before.
We were brought together by loss, the storms that sometimes fall upon our lives, and the desire to create art and just escape reality for even just a breath of time.
It was in the time I least expected it, I found my mountain man.
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