Do You Love Me?

She said no.  But before we get to that, you have to hear what lead up to it.

We've recently had our fifteenth anniversary of being happily married.  Our actual anniversary occurred while we were on vacation so our day out to celebrate had to be delayed.  When we got back from vacation, Cari started to plan something special.  She wanted to surprise me so she contacted my friend, Tom (Random Connections), and started looking for options on going for a kayak trip.

I don't know that this was Cari's most favorite thing to do, but she knows I've been wanting to get out on one for a while and she decided this would be our trip.  Based on Tom's suggestion, she planned a trip to the U.S. National Whitewater Center near Charlotte, NC.

This past weekend we took that trip, and man, that place is amazing.  You can try out some whitewater rafting, kayak on smooth water or white water, mountain bike, hike, climb, zip line, eat, and shop at this facility.  The rafting course is a man-made river that is really impressive.

 Apparently, the US National Whitewater Center also features runaway bikes that will run you over on the trails.  Be careful!

We spent our morning quietly exploring a creek on kayaks.  It was really without incident until Cari started to splash me with her paddle.  To get my revenge, I brought the nose of my boat up to the back of hers and turned her toward the shore and into a few trees.   We were already having a great day.

After lunch we stood on the edge of the rafting area and watched people get dumped out of their boats in the rapids.  We had decided before coming that we weren't going to try the rafting on this visit, but after watching, we'll add this to our next trip.

Finally it was time for the ropes course.  Cari was not excited about this.  She was really only doing this for me. Going 40-60 ft above the forest floor and balancing on a steel cable was not on her "must do" list.  In fact, it wasn't even on her "willing to do" list.  But she did it!  And she did fantastic at it.   Nobody had to scoop her body off the ground, nobody had to come rescue her, and she even managed a fake smile.

About midway through our 30 minute ropes adventure I asked Cari, "Do you love me?"  She shot a quick, nervous look at me and replied, "No.  Not right now."

To finish the rope course, you take a 250 ft zip line back to the starting platform.  Once we were safely standing on that platform, I was able to get her to love me again.

I'm so fortunate to have a wife that loves to share adventures with me.  Every day we are creating more memories together.  I think our memories for our next anniversary trip might include a massage and a pedicure after what she went through this year.

I love you Cari! Forever.