What a difference a decade makes

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned my first date with John on my blog.  Surprisingly, it was not exactly a conventional courtship.  John and I met while working at Hancock Field Station in the desert of Oregon.  After knowing each other a few months as fellow field instructors who led kids off into the desert for 2-5 mile hikes daily, we were able to go on a river trip to scout the John Day before taking kids on the river.  With all that said, John was off limits.  He was dating someone else.  How did I know this given that I rarely saw him? 

Did I mention that we lived in a very remote place?  So remote that cell phones did not work and we just had very slow dial up Internet that we could rarely access due to being out in the filed most of the time.  John being a diligent problem solver and handy, decided to install his own phone line in his cabin.  He had to literally dig a trench over 1/2 mile from the nearest place to split the line.  He worked on this project for over a month.  Finally he had finished it so he could talk to the girl in Idaho he was dating. 

Fast forward to the very next day.  I found John sitting in the homemade wood burning hot tub that we (the instructors) had built.  He was never in there because he was always working on his phone line.

When I asked him how the phone was working, he replied that women were evil, and that she had broken up with him then hung up on him on his first official phone call on his newly installed phone.  This made the space free.  I had just left a four year relationship and I was in no mood to be in another one any time soon. 

When John mentioned a few days later that he was going to Seattle for a few days, I invited myself along, desperately needing a change of scenery.  On the way north, we noticed how windy it was, and John being the adventuresome type, just happened to have a 6ft. wingspan stunt flying kite with him.  So, we pulled over at the Cottonwood Bridge to fly this kite.  The kite was impressive, and the wind was intense.  It literally picked John up and carried him in three steps across a parking area the size of a football field. 

When he got to the edge of the lot, he launched head first into the sage brush and had sticks and twigs protruding everywhere.  It was funny on so many levels.  But life was about to become interactive.  He decided at this point to tie himself to the car, you know, to prevent being launched into sharp sticks again.  Now he needed my help to launch this kite.  Willingly I hiked out in the field, found the kite tangled up and set it free.  I held it high above my head, waited for his tug, the tossed it strait into the air.  At this point I made the novice mistake of stunt kite flying; I looked up to see it fly.  Unfortunately I got a very close look, because the kite took a nose dive and slammed into my face, causing me to began to spurt blood out the side of my head.  (Romance at its best)

So, I loving refer to our fist date as "the time John tried to kill me with his kite."  A lot has happened in last 10 + years of us being together.  We have run rivers, climbed glaciers, I let him live through a few remodeling projects, we adopted not once, but twice, we lived 1/2 way around the world, we have moved, and moved again. 

This past weekend, we decided to have some family time at Dauphin Island.  It was a great time, for time to go slow enough for me to get a moment to be reflective and also in awe of how far we have come as a family and as people over the last 10 years.  There is one exception though. 

The kite is still alive and well and she was flown this weekend, and John risked life and limb to save her again. 

Imagine if you will 50 mph winds on a large sandy beach with intermittent grassy sand dunes, tide pools and the occasionally washed up debris.  John was letting Isaac hold the kite handles and all of the sudden, Isaac decided he didn't want to hold them any more.  John was holding on to Isaac so he wouldn't fly away, but instead of Isaac saying "Dad, can you take over?"  he just let go.  John's first reaction was "seriously Isaac" but then love of the kite kicked in and he was off, sprinting like a mad man after his kite.  Unfortunately he also had a sling backpack on at the time that was clipped to his belt loop.  As he was running and falling behind the race with the kite, he tried to ditch the backpack to gain speed.  He had forgotten that he had clipped it to his pants.  "No problem" I imagine him thinking, I will just ditch the pants and keep on running.  So here is my husband 10 years later, running through sharp sand grass, through freezing cold tide pools, in his underwear all to save his kite. 

Isaac and Emerson watched the scene in awe with me.  At one point Isaac looked at me and asked "am I in trouble?"  I replied "that depends on whether he catches it or not."  None the less, when his pants/ backpack came off we all laughed.  When he dove into the waves belly flopping and came out victorious we all cheered for all sorts of personal reasons.  Me, because John will go to all limits and effort to save something he loves, Emerson because he now has a good reason to wear underwear, Isaac because he was not going to get in trouble, and John because he has still got what it takes to risk life and limb for his family and his kite.