updates.

And so it begins. Another story, this one attempted in an entirely different, far too public forum. I am a writer by blood. By this I mean that I am a reluctant writer, and it took almost 10 years of people telling me that I was a writer for me to acknowledge it myself. This summer, I have ended up on the most peculiar journey, possibly my last solo trek in life. 

I am twenty years old, I am a writer. I am an outdoorswoman. I recently completed a summer living in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone has been one of my favorite places since the first time I visited it, five years ago. A year later, I was sixteen, and my family made a return trip. I knew then that I wanted to work here, to live here. I was devastated to find out that you had to be 18 to live here, but it worked out for the better. I ended up going to work at my ABSOLUTE favorite place in the world, where I fell in love with my best friend. A summer camp called Camp Pioneer. That is another story though, for another day.

I am glad that I came here. For the first time in a very long time, I have started on an adventure entirely alone. Even when I moved from Oregon to Vermont two years ago to start school, my parents moved me in to my dorms, and I had met a few people as a prosepective student the previous March, so I wasn't wandering around like a puppy dog.

Being alone is hard for me. To be fair, i have been "alone" for a year and a half, single and free. But I still had my closest friends, so I never really felt alone. I was happy for the first time in years. I had been in a relationship consistantly since I was 15. With different people, but never really on my own. At nineteen/twenty, this was a healthy time for me to be self-sufficient. 

I had been truely in love only once in my life, and the boy I loved and I had split up before my move to Vermont. We had been in love since we were 16, and both of us subconciously knew that we needed to separate. When we did, we both tried to be with other people...and to emulate the relationship we had shared with those people, and failed miserably. In March of this year, we gave up the futile fight to be a part, and now, we are blissfully happy together again. Things have fallen into place quite nicely.

My summer at Yellowstone was not what I had expected. 

Do not mistake me, it was magestic. I will attest, quite firmly, that Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. The countless hours I was able to spend in the backcountry completely altered my view of Yellowstone. I knew it was...amazing, but I never knew it could be like that. So perfect. The little lakes and perfect peaks...it was easily the most epic summer of my life.

Conversly, it was one of the most socially exhausting summers of my adult life. For the first time in my life I was surrounded by republicans. I got very lucky with my roommate, Chennery, who was this amazing liberal girl from Colorado, who goes to UPenn. Most of the people in our building were conservative republicans from the deep South, which  is not something I know how to deal with. I'm an Oregonian. Republicanism is not a part of my daily life.

I am back in Oregon now, and pleased to be here. It is summer and overcast, and I am home. I am sitting in Tanner's living room, as he is off at work. We are preparing for an epic move to the East coast. We have signed a lease on an apartment, we have slept quite nicely in a twin bed for the last three nights. 

I am so excited to start our life together, and to be back in civilization so I can write in my blog and such.

I'll be posting more regularly henceforth.

Lots of Love, 

Candy