I realize that yesterday was the first day of summer for you way away in the future, but here it is a lovely 55 degrees and cloudy to commemorate our transition into the season of heat and sunshine. Oh, Laramie. You have to love it!
Every Summer Solstice I think about my eighth grade English teacher, Mr. Bland. Isn't that a great name for a middle school teacher? Besides the fact that he was very not bland, in fact he was a great teacher. It was in his class that I was introduced to Orson Scott Card and first read Ender's Game. I also remember that he had two fake front teeth that were really old school and drilled into his palate. As I recall, they were knocked out in a pickup hockey game; this was Alaska after all.
But the reason I think about Mr. Bland is because today is his wedding anniversary. I remember this because my friends and I had a podunk string quartet called the Klassical Kortet (because all of our names either started with a K or C; pretty clever of us, eh?) that played various events around Greuning Middle School. Mr. Bland being a low-key hippie apparently, asked us to play the processional in his wedding ceremony. He must be a really cool, laid back guy, or just plain lazy. But at any rate, we agreed and it was actually quite a beautiful ceremony. It was probably the cheapest wedding in history, which I actually think is to be admired. Sure, your wedding is something that is supposed to be special and memorable, but can't you do that pretty easily without throwing down thousands of dollars?
Interesting fact: anyone in Alaska can marry two people once without being ordained, for free. So that was one way they saved money, having his brother marry them. They also decided to hold the ceremony with everyone standing, in a national park. They didn't have to pay anything, someone just ran up there earlier in the day and kind of claimed the spot. Then have a middle school string quartet provide the music and pay them in giftcards to Blockbuster and Cold Stone (which we were not expecting anyway) and voila!
So yes, I always think of them on June 21st. I wonder how their marriage is going so far. I was thinking, that had to be eight or nine years ago. I hope they are still living happily and simply.
You know what I have thought about? I never really told you a whole lot about my trip to New Zealand. It was before I met you and all, but I think you will probably discover on your trip that traveling thousands of miles away from your comfort zone completely by yourself for an extended period of time can really change you. My trip to New Zealand really did change my life. I credit New Zealand with teaching me how to break out of my shell. I learned a lot about my interactions with people, and how generally I was making relationships with people harder than they had to be. Before I left I was pretty depressed. I had just been dumped by my boyfriend, was constantly battling with my mother, and was lonely in general. When I came back, I was ready to make the most out of life. Without my new found life skills I don't know if I ever would have persued you the way I did; then where would I be?
Here I am skydiving. Note the ocean below me. I am so hardcore.I really want to do new things with you. I always have, but now I think we are ready. Or kind of ready. We still need to finish school and stuff, but that really won't take very long. I want to go on a roadtrip with you (very do-able). I want to travel more with you. We can go back to Europe and ride around on the Eurorail. Or go to Africa or South America because neither of us have ever been there before. I hope you want to do those things with me too. I have a feeling you might. I actually get really excited thinking about it. Plus, I think your idea to build a hot air balloon in a house and travel to space is brilliant. Just a question, when you picture this hot air balloon, is it red? Because I always think of a bright red balloon. Could it be any other way?
I impatiently await more tales of your new adventures.
Te amo.
Luftballons!
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