I have been on quite a few dates in my lifetime. I have gotten ice cream, gotten dinner, grabbed coffee, seen a multitude of movies, and so forth but this past weekend I did something I haven't before. My boyfriend and I went hiking around our local National Park; it was quite possibly the best date I have ever been on. We hiked the trails, a little over 5 miles, and read almost every informational sign. We adventured through the woods, played in some creek beds, saw a bunch of turkeys, wondered around a cabin, and took in all the beautiful scenery around us! The activities themselves seem pretty great, right? I mean, seeing the turkey that close up was pretty great! But even with all these cool things, they aren't the reason I liked it so much. I liked it because we had some of the best conversations I have ever had with another human being.

Yeah, we hiked for about 3 hours but we also talked, and it wasn't just me sucking all the air out of the room. We talked about our families, what we wanted in life, where we were going, and some more serious topics. We laughed and joked. It was just us, God, some turkey, and our thoughts. I loved him before but the further into our conversations we got the more in love I felt. Don't get me wrong, we have been dating for close to 10 months so of course, we have had good conversations! We have had great conversations! But being in nature, just us two, opened a door. I saw things in him I hadn't recognized before and I'm sure he saw things in me too. We learned a lot about each other. That is what dating is all about.

We are dating because we are taking the time to really get to know one another. Couples are supposed to take the time to have conversations. We need to talk about the hard stuff or we are never going to move forward in our relationship. We need to know where we stand on certain subjects and learn how to work through our problems. We are two completely different people we have different tastes, opinions, wants, wishes, etc. and we love each other so we talk through things to see if we can really make our relationship work. If we have different opinions on every single thing, or even on one big thing, it will be much more difficult to have a good relationship. If every couple in the world talked like he and I do I think we wouldn't have such a high divorce rate in this country. If, people in general, talked the way he and I do the world would be a much more peaceful place.

I don't know if he and I will end up getting married or if we will one day peacefully part ways. What I do know right now though is that I truly hope I can talk to my future husband the way I can talk to my current boyfriend. I hope all our conversations show our mutual love, respect, dedication, and honor toward each other in every stage of our lives. I learned that lesson while hiking through the woods with a spectacular man. Too bad other will never learn. "Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them." Nathaniel Hawthorne