The Bachelor Party, Part 3
When we returned to Bachelor Cabin from Conkles Hollow,we played some games for about an hour. At the end of that hour, we started to make dinner. There was a Blue Jackets game that night, and Noah is an avid follower. He has a portable radio that he brings with him to listen to games, and when the game started, he turned it on. When dinner was finished, Nicholas suggested that we turn on the TV.
Now, I have never been a major sports person. Paige is strong-arming me a little bit into it, but basically, until we started dating, I was very against it. The exception being Blue Jackets hockey. In my opinion, hockey doesn't require your undivided attention, in comparison to something like football (especially when your main experience with that is the Buckeyes). In other words, going to a Hockey game is more of a social experience, in comparison to other sports. However, watching the hockey game on TV kind of takes that aspect out of it, so after I finished dinner, I went out onto the balcony.
Austin and my brothers were playing a game, and as I looked over the balcony, I saw Ryan and Brennan coming out of the forest directly behind the Bachelor Cabin. Austin told me, “After we're done with this game, we're going to go down and explore.”
I was a little bit too impatient and decided to go down on my own. It's really hard to describe this forest, as the path is very ill-defined, and the rest of it is not very well-maintained. There's only one real defining feature. If you're looking out from Bachelor Cabin on the left-hand side, there's a series of cliffs and a ravine directly below. From Bachelor Cabin, I ran alone directly into the ravine.
It took me, I don’t know, three minutes maybe, to get to the lowest point of the ravine. It was so quiet. I don't think I can accurately describe the level of silence that I heard. It was just nothing. It was as if someone had turned the volume knob down to zero in that area. I don't think I've ever experienced that level of Zen.
After they finished their game, Austin, Ryu, Luke, and Josh called down to me from the cliffs. I climbed up, and once I got to them, we hiked over the cliffs and through a couple of caves until I found a cliff that offered a good view of the sunset. About 10 minutes after we got there, Will arrived, and shortly after, Noah called me. I returned to Bachelor Cabin to get him.
When Noah and I returned to the cliff, we sat and chatted as the day turned to night. As I explained in the first episode of this season, even before Paige and I started dating, I knew I was going to call the season in which I get married, The Age Of Weddings, and I clarified that I had an unrealistic view of wedding planning. It's so much more stressful than I thought it would be before Paige and I got engaged. But what I've learned throughout this experience is that the stress doesn't matter. At the end of the day, weddings are about three things. The first two are obviously Paige and me, and the third is the people in our lives. The wedding isn't just a party; it's the beginning of Paige and my life together, and the people there are the most trusted friends and family we can go to when we are stressed. As we watched the sunset, I smiled at my brother and friends because I knew they would always be there for Paige and I.
Have a Greattastic day and be safe!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT
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