Happy Birthday Nathan!

I want to take this day to wish my Natey Poo the happiest of 26th birthdays!! He’s been in a sling for the last two weeks, and I know he’s been miserable since his shoulder surgery, so if you see him today, help him feel better by wishing him a very happy birthday!

Another trip around the sun with you is worth celebrating, and I want to take this day to remember all of the fun adventures we have been on over the years. First, I want to start with the first time you came to visit me in South Dakota! We started officially dating only two weeks before I went home for the summer after my first year of college. So we spent the first three months of our relationship half a country apart. When I asked you to fly out to South Dakota and we would drive my car back to VA together, I was very excited that you were just as excited as me to go on an adventure. Before we left for VA, I obviously had to show you around my beautiful state, so we took a road trip to the West side and did all the touristy stuff, like visiting Mount Rushmore and hiking Harney Peak, and we even stopped at Wall Drug for some 10 cent coffee.

When we finally left for VA, we took four days to make the drive. We decided to make another vacation out of the drive instead of just driving nonstop for thousands of miles. The first day, we only drove to Minneapolis so we could hang out there for an evening, but the rest of the trip we drove about 6-7 hours and then found somewhere to stay so we could go to a baseball game. We went to a different baseball game each night for 4 nights, and our route kind of depended on who was playing at their home field along the way. We went to a Twins game in Minneapolis of course, and then stopped in Chicago to go to Wrigley Field and watch the Cubs, and then the next two nights we stopped in Akron, Ohio, and Altoona, PA, to watch Minor league baseball games. It was one of the best trips simply because it was so spontaneous. We had planned to go to the Twins game beforehand, but the other three games we just made up as we went along. We didn’t know where we would be stopping until we were on the road and found a baseball game. It definitely got me out of my comfort zone, and I’m glad Nate suggested it. It will forever be one of my favorite memories with you.

Fast forward two years, and our next big adventure was when we went on a ski trip to Denver, CO. I was still in school, and Nate was working full time, so we decided to go during winter break so that we could take a whole week off and go enjoy a new place. We tried two different ski resorts while we were there: Vail, and Copper Mountain. We both had different opinions of which we liked better. Nate is a good snowboarder, while I am a mediocre skier, so he found Vail to be more fun because it was a little more complex than Copper Mountain. I liked the latter better, because it was a little less scary and I was able to go down the slopes several times without being completely terrified I would die. We also used this time to go explore parts of CO, and we went hiking and to some historical sites in Denver as well. We were even lucky enough to be in Denver when there was this huge Star Wars exhibit at one of the art museums and Nathan was in nerd heaven. At that point, I hadn’t seen any of the Star Wars movies all the way through, so we also took that trip to watch every single Star Wars movie. It was an amazing getaway, and I would definitely be down to go back soon.

Unfortunately, since we have been college students/fresh out of college the whole time we have been dating, we haven’t had a ton of time (or money!) to go on many big adventures. We’ve been on many smaller adventures, like the half a dozen NASCAR races we’ve traveled to all over VA; we’ve gone up to Baltimore a few times to hang out; we’ve been camping up in the mountains; he’s traveled with me to my swim meets; and much, much more!

Even though these trips we take are great adventures, the greatest adventure has been moving in with Nathan, and having this time to learn more about each other and determine if we can actually put up with each other forever. It’s been an eye-opening experience, but neither of us have run off yet! We’ve had plenty of rough patches along the way, but we’ve always managed to come out of them better than ever. I am very blessed that I get to spend another birthday with you Nate, and I hope I get to spend many, many more with you.

So, here’s to 26, and here’s to many more adventures to come! I love you bunches Nate, hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Until Next Time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger