Love Stories – Jen and Oni

Today is Jen and Oni’s 20th anniversary. Yes, it's 20 years ago today that my two besties (apart from The Amazing Bob, of course) became a cosmically twined, awesome duo.

I asked her for an early, Christ Almighty, we are SO in love memory. She shared a way cool piece from their very first camping trip together (yes, they've been known to sleep outdoors in tents, on the cold, hard ground and everything! //shudder//)
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Despite growing up here in Massachusetts I'd never been to the Cape Cod National Seashore on the Outer Cape. Oni planned a weekend camping trip during our first summer together. We left Friday after work and arrived at the campground in Truro at sundown. I was stressed about putting the tent up in the dark, but OniI had it all figured out. He turned on the car headlights and pointed them at the site.

Et voilà! Illumination. Brilliant!

After we were set up, Oni invited me to hop on to the back of his mountain bike; it was time to show me the the beach and the magical giant sand dunes.

Oni pedaled us the mile and a half downhill to Campground Beach. The sky was so clear. I remember seeing the Milky Way for the first time from the back of his bike.

Oni, grilling on the roof of our Cambridge digs.

Amazingly we arrived in one piece and stowed the bike in the beach grasses.  The dunes loomed before us like dark giants, coaxing us to perch atop their shoulders and take in the view.
It felt like I was on a different planet. I loved the alien feeling and was just so happy to be experiencing it with Oni.

We laughed so much that night, drinking in the ocean breezes, gazing at the stars, sharing stories and listening to the rustling beach grasses. The ocean twinkled in the star light.
After we finished a couple of Sam Adams atop what felt like our own personal sand dune, we raced down its face to dip our toes in the cool Atlantic. Time passed in a blink.

Jen hiding from the paparazza.

Oni started digging in the sand and uncovered phosphorescence, which I'd never seen before. The sand had little glowing bits in it! Who knew? Somehow this was hilarious and we laughed some more, feeling like the only two humans on the planet.

Finally it was time to make our way back to the campsite. I felt awful that Oni was going to have to double us uphill, all the way back on his bike so I tried to talk him into just walking. Nope, he was determined to pedal us back so I tried to make myself as light as possible and held on for the ride.

We've been happily together ever since, laughing at things that aren't really funny and just enjoying the ride. As Oni says that beach was the perfect place to feel the force of nature and the power of the universe. The universe confirmed what we suspected, that our place was together.

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Ed. note – DAMN STRAIGHT!!!