Happy Anniversary

I met Melissa at Roll:, a bike shop in Columbus, Ohio. I was an employee; she had stopped in on a chilly fall morning to buy leg warmers before a long bike ride.

I was smitten. I remember everything about the interaction -- her voice, her hair, her stance, the way she contemplated which brand of leg warmer to buy, her arms moving like a scale. I sold them to her and I watched her drive away.

Months later, by chance, she started working at Roll:, too. We worked together on Saturdays. Saturdays quickly became my favorite day of the week. I completely fell for her during a bike ride, our first ever bike ride together.

Yesterday, while pushing our bikes up a hill, somewhere between Kirksville and Bryantsville, Kentucky, we realized that today was our two-year anniversary. So we are spending the day not sweating, not getting chased by dogs, not cursing endless uphills.

We’re taking it easy at The Harrodsburg Festival of Books & Arts, listening to book readings and acoustic guitar playing. We’ve stored our bags at a hotel and we’re acting like civilized human beings, without bike shorts or bike cleats. We’ve spent most of the day chatting to local authors and eating ice cream at an old drugstore turned fudge shoppe.

Or relationship began on a bike ride and is still going strong as we pedal our way across the country. So, here’s to Melissa, the most wonderful person I have ever met. The girl who I once sold leg warmers to, without ever knowing her name. And I’m sure those leg warmers are packed very nicely somewhere in those panniers.

Brooke

An awesome little girl let us crash her private pool party. The perfect end to the perfect day.