let's celebrate

Jared and Mimi met in 2016 in Bishop, CA, thought both of us were living in Bend, Oregon at the time, only a half mile apart. Mimi was on a solo Spring Break soul searching trip, accompanied by Bear, who is the real star of this show. While ambling about ambivalently in the canyon of the Sad Boulders, Mimi ran in to a group of young people bouldering, who were also from Bend and recognized Mimi from the gym. Mimi is on the more socially awkward end of the spectrum, but Bear quickly made friends among the group with great ease. Jared was particularly enamored by Bear, and fell in love, probably right then and there, as Bear leaned the whole weight of his body into Jared, demanding to be pet, and peering into the depths of his soul with those liquid chocolate eyes. They spent the week down there in California, camping and climbing with the group. After returning to Bend, Mimi ran into Jared at the gym and convinced him to go sport climbing at the local crag, because bouldering is for chumps. Jared's response was "I'd put on a harness for you," which is quite the compromise considering Jared's preference for bouldering and speaks to his interest in Mimi at the time, or at least, how much he wanted to hang out with Bear again. And the rest is pretty much history. Over the last 6 years, we have gone on many adventures together, countless climbing and biking trips. Our biggest adventure to date was moving halfway across the country together to Carbondale, Illinois, where we would both attend school. Mimi, a masters program in Physician Assistant studies, and Jared, a PhD candidate in Analytical Chemistry. We bought a house in 2020 so Bear could have the backyard he has always deserved and added a cat, Jack to the mix. We cannot wait to celebrate with all of our friends and family from many different places, together, here in Carbondale!