In Desolation and in Beauty… In Health and in Hardship… When I began writing about my life adventures and photographing them, I never anticipated having the privilege of writing about the adventure of marriage.

Let alone a relationship that began in the most impactful of Canyons in this world.  Jessica and I met in the Grand Canyon and a year and some months later we got married here. 

I want to write this story, not only to honor my marriage and Bride but to share the truth… That the beauty of marriage is found, not given.  Jessica and I decided that our love for each other was worth the rest of our lives.  A life of fighting for the other’s needs and compromise at every corner.  Not one over the other, but an ever-shifting equality between the two of us.  My wife is an emergency personnel.  One of the few in the masses who spends most of their time trying to help people they will never know or find gratitude from.  I am the opposite android climb mountains at every corner.

With this all said, we are opposites, and this takes a lot of grace on both ends.  In the age of high divorce rates and broken homes… It is important to remember that marriage takes a desire to be married every single day.  We all bring all of our own problems, histories, and trauma to these lifelong decisions… We cannot avoid the work it takes if we want to have longevity in our partnership. 

I honor my wife because dishonor is the opposite of loving her.  The longevity of marriage is bound up in honor and work.  From learning to backpack as a married couple to doing so as a family, and from being a solo backpacker to learning to work together with very different communication styles.

In Desolation and in Beauty… In Health and in Hardship…..  I love you until this life is over.