A brief history of us

A fairy tale

nce upon a time, there was a young boy named Jake and a young girl named Arielle. They met many summers ago in an enchanted campground in Minnesota. From the moment they saw each other, they knew something magical was going to happen between them (despite being brace-faced and well into those awkward teen years!).

hey spent that summer teeter-tottering and swinging at the playground. They swam in the lake and took walks late at night in the woods and in the early morning to go get the newspaper. They sang oldies and gazed at fireflies. They held hands and even shared their first kiss!

s time went on (as it has the tendency to do), they still remained friends and stayed in touch. But they moved to different places and met different people.

Until seven years later... when they decided to fall in love!

From the Jake & Arielle 2001 scrapbook.

A more analytical view

In the summer of 1994, Jake and Arielle met at Ottertail Lake Campground in the wilds of Minnesota. How they got from there to here is anything but a short story. There were a lot of moves, letters, phone calls, and silence in that stretch of time. Jake thought a handy-dandy temporal-spatial flowchart would put it all in perspective.

1. They meet ('94)
2. Letters are exchanged ('94-95)
3. Arielle moves; letters are exchanged, then stop ('95)
4. Arielle moves again ('96)
5. Visits are paid; then stop ('96-98)
6. Arielle moves ('98)
7. Jake moves ('98)
8. Sporadic contact is made ('98-00)
9. Arielle moves then moves back ('99)
10. Jake pays a visit. It's 1994 all over again ('00)
11. Letters, phone calls, and visits are commonplace ('00-02)
12. Jake moves ('02)
13. Arielle moves ('02)
14. History is made ('03)