post 100 - better be a good one!

And I think it is. Meet Evan.


He is my boyfriend and I adore him. We met last semester when I was his TA - he asked me on a date the minute after class ended and kept patiently asking me out until I finally wised up in mid-March. After officially dating for a couple of months, the vast majority of our pictures are with funny faces or dressed absurdly, which I think bodes well for us. This was taken a few weekends ago when we drove back home with Abbey for the ovarian cancer walk. We jammed more into a 20-hour trip than should be possible: sing-a-long birthday party with Kevin, Yvonne, Dad, and Karen at a piano bar (where Abbey stole the show in a breakout egg shaker performance)... 3 mile walk through Raccoon River Valley Park with Hendersons, Abbases (including Grandma Shirley), Ed & Su and my junior high school friend Mandy... brunch at Hy-Vee with the fam, Adam, Linda, Julia, Yvonne, and her mom... a tour of the city including Sec Taylor stadium and South of Grand... a stop by Karen's parents' house... a nap... a round of card games... and a grilled quesadilla dinner whipped up by a proud papa. Needless to say, he was a hit with everyone and a great sport about the whirlwind Des Moines experience.

He just left today for a 10-week stint in Uganda with a day layover in Dubai. He's on his way to student teach in Kasese, a town of about 50,000 people on the border of the DRC just south of Queen Victoria National Park. He is a great writer (funny, compassionate, insightful... all great qualities, yes?) and I recommend you follow along with his adventures at his blog:

http://peaceloveandpancakes.blogspot.com/

I actually have a plane ticket there myself to visit him after my summer class in London finishes. The more I think about it, the crazier it seems to go, but I will jump at any excuse for international travel. I also wanted to see for myself the people and places that will no doubt be a big part of his life. And I already miss him even though his flight left about 12 minutes ago.