Half written postings thrown into one!

Well I have started to write 4 different postings and never got around to finishing a single one…… so instead I’m going to combine them all here because some of them are so old now it just seems inappropriate to post them on their own.

     At the beginning of May I took a trip to the Boundary Waters in northern MN with my brothers, father, my uncle +Mark and a friend of my dad’s from WSU.  What an amazing trip!  It was so refreshing to fly out of Chicago and then within a matter of hours from landing I was in the middle of wilderness.  Although it was still chilly up there and some of the lakes still frozen it was a great time to go to the BW because there were no bugs!  Although we were only up there for a few days, it was adversely strange to fly back into Chicago after leaving such vast emptiness.  It’s funny how we often conceptualize camping as rugged, unclean, or maybe even barbaric.  But after coming back to Chicago, I started wondering if the modern populated city life was any different.

Anyway, the trip was SO much fun and I am already planning on going back next year.  There were many stories and highlights from the whole trip but I’ll share my potential favorite three.  One of them was taking a nap in my dad’s new Hennessy Hammock!  This thing is a hanging tent and one of the cooler things I’ve seen in a long time.  If you’re into camping, listen to me, never buy a tent again!  Those things suck!  The hammock on the other hand is #1!  I'll add a picture below.
Also, here is a video about it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqg4x443RmM&feature=kp
    Another highlight deals with fishing.  I’m not much of a fisherman, but to be honest, I was really hoping to turn that around on this trip.  So I bought a fishing license and did a good deal of fishing.  But if I wanted to catch a fish, +Thomas was like 300% more determined to!  He spent most of his time fishing.  Now +Josh on the other hand didn’t even buy a fishing license, the only one of us not to.  And one night he decided that he better at least cast a line from shore just to say he did while camping.  And after one mediocre cast he decided to do one more……….. and caught a darn fish……… Thomas’ and my expressions were palpably angered.  Classic!
   The last highlight was just plain silly.  One night we had asparagus for dinner and after we ate we were cleaning up and decided to throw the butts of the asparagus into the lake for the fishies.  But what it ended up turning into was a left-handed throwing contest between all the Dégalliers!  I thought is was super fun….. plus I won.

Here is an example of my dad's hammock tent!

     Another blog posting I began but regrettably never finished was celebrating +Hannah and my first year of marriage!!!!  YEEEAH!  We did it!  Only like 5 more to go before she leaves me for someone way less awesome. 

Our anniversary was on the 25^th of May and it was super fun!  We really had more of an anniversary weekend which was great!  We did so much!  We went out to luscious dinner provided from a wedding gift that we had stored away to use on such a night, we spent a day at the beach, we went shopping (“we” as in I was at least there), went on a water taxi ride, etc.  It was a really great weekend and I had so much fun just hanging out with Hannah.

To everyone who has asked or is wondering how the first year of marriage was here is an easy word for me to sum it up: HARD.  Now in case you take that the wrong way, it has also been SO incredible!  I love being married to Hannah and we have grown a ton together since tying the knot, but that honestly doesn’t make the whole thing one big walk in the park!  I know there have been a lot of external relational reasons to express strain on our marriage, such as times without a job, living in foreign territory, school, etc., but we have had things between us that have been strenuous as well.

I think the thing that has been the most difficult to adjust to is the constant decision making together.  What are WE going to have for dinner, what are WE going to do this weekend, how are WE going to spend money, what TV show are WE going to watch?  While dating these things obviously came about so we had practice in a way.  But now that we live together and we share everything, it seems at times like I hardly ever make decisions for just myself anymore.  It’s an interesting change of pace.  Lord knows, I can’t even imagine what it’s like having a kid!  Which is why I am formally deciding to never have any.  Not really…… maybe…..

But back to the point.  This last year in marriage has been fantastic.  It’ll be exciting to see what we’re able to do over this next year.  LUM YA HANNAH! 

     Oh!  Another sharing point is that while Hannah is currently gone from Chicago, leaving me to whither alone in grief and despair, she got her second rotation switched back to Chicago!  So I only have to be alone for one month instead of two!

But as for right now, I’m living in Chi-town all by my lonesome!  It’s really strange to be honest.  After I dropped Hannah off at her friend’s house to get a ride back to MN I went grocery shopping for myself.  It was really weird.  I didn’t have Hannah there to tell me I didn’t need something, or at least, I didn’t have her there to make me think for myself that I shouldn’t buy something to avoid her judgment!  And over the last few days it has been so odd to come home from work and just spend the night alone.  I never lived by myself before so this month is quite the new experience for me.  It hasn’t fully hit me yet that I won’t be seeing Hannah much at all this whole month.  It’s still too soon for me.  But give it this weekend when I don’t have work and I’m just hanging out the whole day alone, I’m sure the distance will take full effect.   

      Alright, well I believe that is enough for me to write right now!  Hopefully I'll have more to share soon, but until then, thanks for reading!