Hammocks.

In the middle of the mountains, there was a lake.



But before that....

Mike, his family, and I packed two cars up with camping supplies. Sleeping bags, tents, blankets, insect repellant, you name it we packed it. We drove a about an hour to this little white house in the middle of a gaint field surrounded by mountains, tall hay, horses, and water. It looked like a picture out of a magazine. We spent the better part of the afternoon in a canoe with fishing poles trying to catch non-existant fish, but only succeeding in getting bait all over us. While he pulled the canoe out of the water and put it up, I stalked all the miniature frogs and grabbed them up. He walked over, placed a hand on my back, picked up my fishing pole and proceeded to walk me up the hill. In the front yard overlooking the lake, stood two trees with a hammock between them.

Seeming like the right thing to do, we got into the hammock and started to watch the sun set. A beautiful, curly blonde haired, blue eyed, little girl ran over to us throwing her arms up wanting to be picked up. I pulled her up, and placed her between Mike and me. We played with her, amusing her with blades of grass, bugs, stories. She eventually grew tired and fell asleep. Afraid of waking her, Mike and I decided to stay put and talk. I gently tucked a loose curl behind the little girl's ear and watched her sleep.

"I love little kids... I can't wait until I have kids of my own."
"Kids of our own."
"What?"
"You know, after we get married."
"Get married?"
"After college... We'll have a beautiful daughter; she'll look just like you."

Mike looked at me with such sincerity it made my eyes water. Never in my life had someone been so serious about something like that. It was years away. Maybe even a decade away. Too many variables had to be added in to come to that conculsion. But he genuinely meant it.

"I don't think I'll love someone as much as I love you until I get married."
"That's going against what you just said."
"Well, if you and I don't get married, that's what is going to happen."
"Yea, yea. You'll love other people."
"Let's get engaged."
"Love, no. Let's make it through a couple more years before we do that."

The little girl woke up, looking around as if she didn't recognize her own front yard. She stood up, smiled, and ran playfully off to find her puppy. We watched her go, then settled back to watch the sun start to fade behind the mountains. The raincloud above us broke, causing rain to fall all around us. Luckily the trees that held the hammock where very dense with leaves, which kept u safe from the rather large droplets. Mike pulled me closer, and ran his hand up and down my arm.

"I love you; you'll never know how much."