There are a million things I love about Laura.
Where do I start?
How about the story of how we met. It goes something like this.
Back in the Fall of 2006, during my last semester at UGA, I took a class called “Herbaceous ID”. My professor was Allan Armitage. One day in class, he was showing us some slides from different horticultural events that he’s been to around the country. Stopping at one of the photos, he said “This place is wonderful — Al’s Garden Center near Portland, Oregon… they have one of the nicest home gardening retail stores that I’ve ever been to. If anyone wants to do an internship there, let me know.”
At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. Then I started thinking about what I was going to do during the 8 months between graduation and grad school. Hmm, maybe I’ll ride my bike across the country and end up in Oregon? Sounds crazy enough. So I talked with Dr A, he made a phone call, and I had a job waiting.
During January 2007, I rode my bicycle from Macon, GA to Austin, TX. Originally I had planned to go all the way to San Diego, by renting a van to drive across Texas. But the rental van ended up costing $400 instead of the $80 that was advertised, so I decided to end the trip in Austin (just didn’t have the money) and fly to Portland 3 weeks early.
When I got to PDX, I couch surfed, met some friends of friends, but didn’t really have much to do. That’s when I found meetin.org. It’s basically a website that puts people in touch who want to go to events together — bowling, movies, happy hour, mountain climbing, rafting, whatever. One day as I was trying to figure out how to use the site, I came across a message. It was from a cute girl from Virginia who was about to embark on a road trip across the country. Destination: Portland, Oregon.
Without thinking about it at all, I sent her a message. You know, just to see if she wanted to explore Portland with another new person from the east coast. No pretensions. Hell, I didn’t even expect her to respond.
It said:
Hey Laura, I saw your post about moving to Portland. I just got here too… judging by the bits on your info page, I think we might have a lot in common. Let me know when you get here and are settled… I’d love to meet up!
Since I’m new to the area, I don’t know much about Portland yet so I can’t offer any advice… but on my way across the country, the couchsurfing.com website and the people I met through there were insanely helpful. If you’re a traveler, I highly recommend joining it.
Ben
She responded, I gave her my cell number, and told her when I would next be in Portland (since I actually lived 30 miles south at the time).
Seriously, I really really really didn’t think she would call.
Then she did.
And we met up in front of Powell’s Books. Out of the blue, she came around the corner, said “Hi! I’m Laura.” and gave me a hug. We went out to a late lunch, talked about life, music, the future of humanity, etc. I thought she was cool and interesting, but I wasn’t looking to date anyone. Just friends.
A few days went by. I had plans to go to Seattle the next weekend. But she sent a couple emails and we talked on the phone. I was convinced to cancel my plans and spend the weekend with her. Discovering Portland with a new friend.
We started off like that. And then. And then and then and then. We were like a roller coaster. I don’t think either one of us could believe it at first.
Is it really possible that we want the same things from life? Surely not.
Is it really possible that we believe the same things? Surely not.
Is it really possible that we have so much in common? Surely not.
Time, however, proved us wrong. We learned as the weeks turned into months that the answers were always “Yes! Yes! Yes!” It was truly unbelievable. Then, June rolled around. We talked. We hoped. We dreamed. And everything came together.
I love her because she’s smart. Because she sets her mind to do something, and she does it. Because she’s honest. Because her smile is genuine. Because I can tell her absolutely anything. Because she likes to travel. Because she’s spontaneous. Because she sees the silver linings. Because she has goals. Because she pays attention. Because she’s still a kid inside. Because she is open minded. Because she questions everything. Because she reads books that matter. Because her hands are wonderful to hold. Because she inspires me.
Because she took a risk and came to Portland and all this fucking crazy shit came together and we met.
This is it.
Two years away at NCSU is going to fly by. I’m going to miss her, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. We have decades ahead of us. A motorcycle trek around the country. A half year backpacking and hitchhiking around Europe. 2+ years in the Peace Corps. And whatever else we decide to do.
Our possibilities are endless.
And Seattle? I still haven’t been there.
