an introduction.

I met Cathia during a one-semester stint at Olivet Nazarene University. We were both living on the same floor in the upper-classmen dorm. I was on my way to the dining hall with a friend, and as we passed Cathia's room, I saw her sitting at her desk, laptop open in front of her. "Hey," I said, feeling uncharacteristically nosy. "Want to go eat dinner?"

"Sure," she said.

And with that profound exchange of words, our friendship was forged forever.

I ended up switching my major twice during my time at Olivet (twice! in one semester!). The downside was, it was really stressful. The upside was, I ended up transferring into a lit class that Cathia was taking. Twice a week, before listening to our sweet prof talk about American Literature, we'd have cheeseburgers and fries together at the Tiger Grill. (They were, for real, the world's greatest cheeseburgers. I can still taste their greasy goodness. I should mention, that's also the semester I gained the Sophomore Sixty...)

Over burgers and fries, we'd talk. Cathia was in a photography class, and she'd tell me about how her prof hated pictures of leaves... because in the fall, that's the only thing students took pictures of. (That's stuck with me for forever.) Cathia is in the Air Force, and at the time, she had already been deployed once to Iraq. We'd talk about what it was like, living over there. She told me about giant tarantulas that lived in her tent. I cried.

Cathia introduced me to Tomb Raider and Cirque de Soleil, and I introduced her to the fact that girlie girls could successfully play hockey. We rode around in her sporty Honda (as opposed to my sporty Crown Victoria).

We decided to get "involved" on campus, and joined the Olivet Geological Society. It was basically a bunch of science majors who got together in a gloomy lab and talked about rocks, but they told us they'd plan camping trips, so we signed up together. Tents! Camping! Adventure! Oh yeah, we were cool now. Except, when time came to actually camp with said Geological Society... Cathia couldn't go. (She was "busy." Right. I still don't believe it.) As a consolation, Cathia lent me her military boots for the trip. They inspired a bit of courage in my timid literary self... and so, I went alone -- a weekend camping trip with a bunch of science majors. (We ended up sleeping all piled into one tent, because the temps dropped below freezing at night. It was the BEST. EVER.)

So, you know, Cathia and I have a long history together...

And now, this Saturday, I get to shoot her wedding.

{Insert a thousand exclamation points here.}

The end.