||Day Forty-Eight||
Today was a special day. Today my boyfriend, Jake, and I celebrated two years of being an official couple. Two years ago, on this day, he drove down from Wisconsin for the first time. This was the second time we had seen each other in person, if you can believe it. After roughly a year and 9 months of youtubing, texting, and skyping, we began our journey as a couple. And it's been a great one. But before I get into all of that, we spent our day in a way that speaks to both of us.
Seeing as how Jake is a Zoology & Conservation double-major, and I'm an Animal Sciences (concentrating in behavior and well-being) major, we decided to spend our anniversary at Wolf Park.
Seeing as how Jake is a Zoology & Conservation double-major, and I'm an Animal Sciences (concentrating in behavior and well-being) major, we decided to spend our anniversary at Wolf Park.
Wolf Park is (according to their website): "a wildlife education and research facility". Besides being home to wolves, Wolf Park also has foxes, coyotes, and bison. Overall, it's a really incredible experience, at least if you're animal-loving-nature-geeks like me and my boyfriend. Today was also particularly special for Wolf Park because today was the day of their "Watermelon Party". Essentially they took watermelons, scooped out some of the insides (like a pumpkin for a jack-o'-lantern), and filled them with treats such as pig ears, cheese, and ice cream. This is an enrichment activity that the park does quarterly, or once per season.
Most, if not all of these animals grew up in captivity, or have been acclimated to the volunteer workers so that they can enter the enclosures. Though, they make a point to never go in alone and avoid aggravating the animals at all costs.
After catching the majority of the wolves and coyotes enjoying their watermelon treats, my camera started to fizzle out. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with it, but basically it got to the point where if I zoomed in at all it wouldn't take a picture (hence the very distant picture of the bison). Then it got worse by not taking pictures at all. My theory is that it has something to do with the heat, the same thing happened in Florida once, because once it "cooled down" it seemed okay for the rest of the evening.
Once we got back from the park we were fairly exhausted, so once again, we lounged and even watched a movie. We watched "How I Live Now" with Saoirse Ronan. It was post-apocalyptic and very much out-there. I didn't think it was the worst movie in the world, but Jake rated it 2/5 stars on Netflix. I'm actually almost tempted to read the book version, though I already have a reading list that's a mile long.
Once the movie was over, we made a lovely candlelight dinner. Skyline Chili with peanut butter sandwiches (as per Jake's request) and an apple to share. A lot of people choose to spend their anniversaries in fancy restaurants, eating steak and clinking champagne glasses, which is totally fine. And while I may envy that lifestyle to a certain degree, I also relish these simple moments. For instance, I hope to never forget that while we made chili we realized that the pots was too small, and how we narrowly avoided a disaster by splitting it between two pots. Or how I was silly enough to wear something white while I was stirring the chili, and of course it splattered onto me. Or how peanut butter sandwiches dipped in chili is something that Jake's dad taught him and all of his brothers, and now he's taught me. To me those moments are more important than fancy gifts and lavish meals.
After dinner I gave Jake his anniversary present, the classic pinterest project, "52 Things I Love About You". This little project has been in the works for so long that it was supposed to be a one-year anniversary gift. But it's something I chose to spend a lot of time and consideration on, I wanted each "thing" to be something special and meaningful. And in the end, I'm very pleased with the results and the reaction I got from it -- all smiles.
To end the night, we watched another movie, "Love Actually" (which is very unlike me because I'm just not much into sitting down and watching a movie, though having a cuddle buddy does make movies a thousand times more bearable). We also broke out the Phish Food, which is our go-to ice cream that we share ALMOST every time we visit one another.
Cheers to two years, and for all the good times that may follow.
♥K
♥K
