In case you haven't noticed, Molly and I like each other a little bit ;)
This evening we decided to sit inside and do some writing while we hide out from the wildfire smoke that has been hanging around Portland recently. Seems like a great time to tell our story (and the story of our blog)!
It all started with this...
Molly and I knew each other in high school, but were never very close. We had mutual best friends, but she took science and art classes while I spent my time studying English and Politics (I also blame the fact that we had different lunches). After school, she spent a lot of time working at her family farm, while I was busy playing water polo.
Winter of 2016 had been rough for both of us. One day I saw a Facebook post from Molly about how she was trying to get out more and meet new friends. A few months prior, I had felt the same way, and started up little monthly parties at my house, so I invited her without thinking much of it.
That month's party was Poker Night! Some amazing friends made it over for to compete over a small voluntary pot via the time tested fun of Texas Hold'em. Molly had never played before, but she whooped our collective hindquarters (as I would soon learn is par for the course, she is terrifyingly good at board/card games)!
Four days later, I invited Molly to our first real date, at a really cool Hawaiian restaurant in Portland called Noho's.
By the time the evening was done, I was totally smitten. Molly was fun, beautiful, kind, and our personalities meshed in so many ways. I still remember walking back to the car while Molly talked about how she really loves old school country music (like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash), and how she used to listen to the same cassette tapes over and over again on the farm. By the time I dropped her off, I was determined to do whatever I could to win her over.
Thus began plans for... THE BEST DATE EVER!
I think I'll just share a little journal entry to describe how cool this date was:
Life changing day. Had my second date with Molly today, and it was off the charts amazing. When she arrived, instead of knocking, she called me to say that the Easter bunny (one of my front yard rabbits) was outside ;) I showed her the garden, and then we ate soup and drank wine while I showed her around the house. Then we built up my tent in the living room and watched Star Wars. We decided to use only candles and flashlights to make it more like camping. During the movie, we enjoyed the rest of our wine and some gelato, and I played her the guitar by candlelight. We kept talking about how it feels like we have known each other for so long even though it's only been two dates. It literally has been fireworks. I'm blown away and loving every moment. I feel so lucky and this is still sinking in. She is so beautiful and kind and open and we line up in so many ways. I feel so comfortable with her. Man, what a day. We are going to the zoo tomorrow :)
After camping, we enjoyed a lot of rapid-fire adventures. That next weekend, we decided to head up to one of my favorite hiking trails, Eagle Creek (which sadly is currently being burnt in a big wildfire!)
Last April, it was a lot wetter:
We took a lot of Polaroid pictures, and once we got back, drove up to Hood River. We enjoyed dinner at Big Horse Brew Pub and Restaurant while looking over the pictures and telling stories.
We ended up discussing travel plans, and Molly told me about how she wanted to go to every location in the famous I've Been Everywhere song. Before long, we had decided to make a team travel blog, the wevebeeneverywhere.com domain had been purchased, and we were off to the races <3
I still think Molly was surprised when I actually built and published the blog, but it didn't take her too long to really start liking it. She keeps telling me: "Some boys buy flowers, you build websites." Very true, Molly, but rest assured, I'll be buying you plenty of flowers too ;)