Our Anniversary Trip

"Do you know how lucky you are to go away for your anniversary in the middle of August?" said Paul's cousin Trish.

Yes I know.  Believe me, I've had lots of years when our anniversary on August 10th got only a rushed dinner out, if that much, such as the time we dined at The Vault in Harrisburg and I was so tired and stressed from being a single parent to lots of young children all summer that I cried through the whole meal.

Not a high point in our marriage.

We chose our wedding date because Paul was going to be teaching school come September.  We didn't realize that he would spend many years teaching school AND running the warehouse.

August 10th is a very bad date for anyone involved in harvest to get away.

Not only was this getaway in the middle of August, it was also in the middle of Vacation Bible School and the cleaners running 24 hours a day.

But this was Paul's inspiration, to not only celebrate our 28th anniversary but to go up in the mountains, and I most certainly was not going to say no.

A motel at the coast is usually the place we automatically go to, but this time we stayed in a cabin along the McKenzie River.

It was wonderful.

The weather was perfect.

The cabin was adorable.  It was built in 1948.
 
I fell in love with the details, such as the old fashioned latches on the windows, and the deck, on the other side of the wood-framed screen door, with the McKenzie River just beyond those trees.




Paul had to be on the phone a lot but I knew very well that the only reason we could afford this was because he works so hard at keeping everyone happy with his seed cleaning.  So I didn't complain.

(Much.)

The first afternoon we drove further up Highway 126, looking for the trail to Proxy Falls as delineated in Bill Sullivan's hiking book.  Along the way we passed White Branch Camp, where Paul attended Bible Memory Camp a number of times.  And where the boys once pushed Paul's s dad into the pool.

If you can imagine that, you who knew Wilton.

Paul really wanted to see his old haunts there.  The camp was back in a mile or so, and we passed inquisitive campers as Paul reminisced about what was there back in the old days and I felt like an intruder and hissed at him to please turn around and leave.

So we finally did.  And a few miles on found the trail to Proxy Falls.  It was a beautiful, easy half-hour hike through forest and lava beds, and then there before us was a breathtaking waterfall probably 200 feet high.



Paul couldn't believe that in all the years they camped at White Branch they never took a trip up the road to do this hike.

I said only in Oregon can you have this great hike and waterfall just sitting there, that you've never heard of before.

We had time for only an overnight getaway and were home by early afternoon the next day.

But it was worth it.

Marriage takes work and investment.  A hundred details of daily life conspire to slowly pull you apart.  Inevitably, you disappoint and hurt each other, you don't measure up to expectations, you find each other irritating, you get angry, you say things you shouldn't say and don't say what you should.

Or, you simply, silently, grow apart.

That's why we need time away, alone.

We've found that's the best way to get back to who we are and why we love each other and how we can make this work.

I can't say how thankful I am for a husband who values our marriage enough to rent a cabin on the McKenzie in the middle of August.



 Ok, so Paul's eyebrows are up for some reason, and this picture made the kids snicker, and Emily said, "It looks like Dad robbed the cradle," and one of my eyes looks bigger than the other, but it was the only one I had of the two of us.

 Right before we left I ran outside to take a picture, so Paul hauled out the last items--his newspaper and my books and purse.

It takes a real man to carry his wife's purse, I always say.