Ten years ago, in early June, I loaded the entirety of my girlfriend’s freshman year dorm room into my little Mazda Protege, and moved her back home. We had been dating a couple of months at that point, and this was going to be the first time that I met her parents. I was a nervous wreck. I really liked this girl, and I wanted to make a good impression, so I replaced the Megadeth T-shirt with something a little more appropriate for meeting parents, took a deep breath… and went for it. It went splendidly. After I helped carry all of her stuff inside, I saw a print hanging on their kitchen wall. I still remember that print. It was a beach with huge standing rocks on it, water swirling around them in creamy white tendrils almost like smoke; it looked like something out of a fairy tale. I sat in that kitchen many times and admired that print, and when I asked what it was a picture of, her mother told me that it was Cannon Beach. It was a real place, out in Oregon, and I knew that I had to see it for myself.
Some things have changed since I sat there staring at a picture on a wall… That girlfriend of ten years ago is now my wife of three years. (We had a long courtship.) We’ve visited Oregon a number of times since then, because she has (and now I have, by marriage) a large number of relatives out there. But for all the times we’ve visited, we never quite made it to this magical place that I’ve all but dreamt about all these years. Schedules never worked out… things always somehow preempted making the hour-and-a-half drive to this part of the coast, and since we were out there visiting family, I kept quiet about it. I knew I would have my chance, and so I waited. (By the way, I’m far from complaining about all of my previous visits out there. I can honestly say that I’ve never had a bad trip out there. Ever.)
Every year, that side of the family gathers at Alvin’s farm for 4th of July. Alvin is my wife’s grandmother’s brother. (I KNOW there’s an official title for this, but I don’t know it. Grand Uncle? Uncle Once Removed Twice Added and Once Divided? He’s always been called Alvin, and he has a farm.) We don’t always get to go, but we made it out this year. My brother-in-law, Alex, who lives out in Portland, asked if there was anything that I wanted to shoot while we were out there for a few days. I got my chance, and I’d had the answer to that question for pretty much a decade. Cannon Beach. I wanted Cannon Beach.
Three months ago, my wife and I had another dream come true. Our daughter was born in early April, and probably the biggest reason for us making this trip this year was to introduce her to that side of our family. Her great grandmother was very excited to meet her, her uncle Alex wanted to spoil her with attention, and to put it mildly, she stole the show at the July 4th gathering. And so if my wife and daughter are my cake, then Sunday was the icing! Proof that dreams do, indeed, come true.
Alex, and his very-recently-fiance (CONGRATS GUYS!!!) Annie made the trip with us; in fact played guide to us for most of the weekend’s outdoor activities. It was cold and windy. I was in shorts and T-shirt and I’m pretty sure I saw my breath at times, but I was feeling no pain. I got it!
And now… we’re home. Exhausted from traveling, but you couldn’t wipe the grin off of me. Just for a little while… I got to go and play in that poster hanging in my mother-in-law’s kitchen. Yeah. I have a lot to be thankful for. I know it, and that’s exactly why I’m sharing.
