month 7: holy moly, we get to do what?

love, 

i'm sitting on the couch while you vacuum. our bike boxes are packed and each room has been prepared neatly for our departure. we're heading to bozeman in just an hour or so. my adrenaline is starting to pump a little more; i feel it rushing in my veins. if we leave the night before our flight, at least we have a lesser chance of being late, per our usual m.o. 

tomorrow, we'll be in vancouver to start our ride down to the mexican border. wtf. i've never done anything like this before. ever. and i can't imagine anyone else i'd rather do this with. can you? it feels both exhilarating and scary...which only equals one thing: YESYESYES!

i feel like this month flew by ridiculously fast. how is that possible? we are pacing ourselves at like 10% of how we lived in the bay. :-\ 

the memories we created this month were stellar: hosting candice & matt, dinner and hot tubbing under the clear star-filled sky at judy's, me leaving you at home for two days while i took wilderness first aid and you....you rode your bike around town, ate burgers, and introverted. we took hikes, slept in, cooked, rode our bikes, ran way too many errands in town, and deepened friendships.

what stands out to me in our relationship is that we became better partners this month. we're a better team because we hold each other more loosely. our marriage got infused with more ease, by way of conflict and resolution and i am more in love with you because of it.

i think even up until a month ago...i could still imagine some semblance of life without you. it would be hard, but i could imagine it. but right now, as i sit here reflecting on our relationship, my heart would ache so deeply if you were no longer part of my life. who else would do all the research!!?! kidding! ;-) 

no really, i think it has much to do with this month being a pretty pivotal month of realizing that we can create whatever kind of marriage we want and that that is a wildly beautiful task at hand. i'm grateful for your kindness and patience, your measured risk taking, and every time you spontaneously break out in another accent. 

you are the love of my life and i love that we are creating our marriage by cycling over 1900 miles over 40 days. whoowee! what will that do for us?! i can't wait to see.......be nice!

I LOVE YOU.