Pacts, Pinon, and a Proposal

In May of 2010 I received my first job offer to teach on the Navajo Indian Reservation in a small rural community called Pinon. Little did I know that this was about to become one of the biggest adventures I had ever taken. I packed up and moved 1700 miles in July of 2010 with the intention of never looking back.

Have you ever been in a car by yourself for fours days with only the radio and the occasional phone call from the Penske driver behind you to tell you she needs to pull over? You do a lot of thinking about what you want out of life. During the drive I made a pact with myself that I needed to spend at least five years in Pinon to establish myself as a teacher, figure out what I was going to do with my career, and to take some time for myself. I was ok with having no friends and no intimate relationships. I was willing to accept a life of solitude in order to find some peace and quiet from a past that seemed to follow me no matter where I went. Some members of my family are very over bearing and refuse to let me grow up. They feel the need to control my every step and only give me enough of a leash to breathe, let alone make mistakes and actually learn how to function within society.

I settled in Pinon in July of 2010. My mom stayed with me for two weeks helping me unpack and arrange my house. We explored Flagstaff together and a little bit of Phoenix before she got on a plane and returned to Ohio. During the last week of July all of the teachers were required to attend professional development to begin preparing for the first week of classes. All of the new teachers had to stand up and introduce themselves. After we introduced ourselves and the meeting was over a fellow new teacher at the high school came and introduced himself, his name was Brent Maynard. During the same week I met my other half in life, Pam Fowles. She is a wife of a history teacher in the high school and we swear that we were separated at birth.

I live at the end of a loop and my house faces a line of mountains and the valley. The first night I was in my house I looked out back and saw the sun setting with the clouds. It was so beautiful. 

Once monsoon season finally passed and the clouds were gone this became my normal sunset. 

I made another friend who lived close by my house named Jackie. We took a day and traveled to Canyon De Chelly in Chinle, about one hour east of Pinon. In the bottom of the canyon are tons of ruins, it was incredible! Hiking back up was painful though, especially since we had to stop for the mountain crossing. That is something you don't see everyday. 

I took this picture at my first Pinon football game. The team sucks, but watching the sunset behind the football games was like having our own 'Friday Night Lights'

As time progressed Brent became one of my closest friends. We both adopted two little puppies from the same litter and spent a lot of time having puppy play dates. We began taking longer walks and even longer evenings at the Fowles house. Everyone around us thought we were already dating, but were just friends. On one evening walk we talked about what we look for when looking for a relationship. It was at this moment that I reminded myself of my pact with myself to not date anyone and to back off. Brent had someone he still had feelings for in Utah and I did not want to interfere. Whether he knows it or not but for the next couple of days I purposely avoided him so I could put myself back into the mind set I had set out for myself. But I felt like a part of me was missing and I slowly began hanging back out at the Fowles to see him and hold brief conversations.

In October I was invited to watch General Conference with Brent and the Fowles. I wanted to snuggle up to him so bad but resisted. Jokingly I laid my head on his shoulder because I was tired and he wrapped his arm around me. I fell asleep cuddled up to him and it felt right. Several weeks later we went out for dinner in Chinle and back to my house to watch a movie. We both fell asleep wrapped up in each others arms while watching the movie. Our faces were close together and we both admitted later that we wanted to kiss the other one that night but was not sure. He still had feelings for someone else and I was just confused. Needless to say we kissed that night. I had never kissed someone until that night and Brent made my heart stop.

I took this picture after one of our first puppy play dates. Brent bought these squeaky stuffed animal things and had both puppies playing at the same time. 

After the first week of being together I traveled home to see my mother and family. I missed him more than life itself at that point. When I landed in Phoenix, I sped home to see him. I showed up at his house to find him laying on the futon with an empty box of pop tarts. He looked like he had not showered in a month and was starving. He kissed me and at that moment I knew I never wanted to be without him again. The following weekend was Halloween. We are both big kids and decided to dress up, I was the fair maiden, he was my night in shining tin foil, and we drove the white stallion. That night he asked me to spend forever with him, and I said yes.

In October I saw my niece and nephews. When Brent went home to meet my family these kids ATTACKED him! Coral is the most blunt three year old I have ever met. I asked her what she thought of Brent and she said 'well, I don't know how to put this but he's not very cute, he's not my type.'