A picture of a one-way bridge. Not especially compelling one might think.

Me being up early enough to witness the sunrise from the rivers edge as I ineptly attempted to surprise my sleeping wife with fresh trout having proved my valour and cunning as the hunter and provider is both shocking and ill fated.

One of the seasons first fallen snows upon the dense and vivid fall foliage.

Falling asleep to the sounds of the rapids in our tent on rivers edge while strange and fretful sounds and crackling twigs surrounded us through the night.

Minus 5 degrees, and a frozen right shoulder that wouldn’t fit in the sleeping bag due to all the extra fleece clothing necessary to keep us from freezing to death in our summer bags.

Chicken and vegetables prepared over an open fire, the first real campfire that she’s ever made by herself and first meal she’s ever prepared in this manner. A great accomplishment!

Fishing at the rivers edge and losing lure after lure but watching her contently stand there enjoying the presence of everything around her.

The reason I’m still in Sweden is because of Eva. She has opened my eyes to the life and culture here. She is a kindred spirit. Patient and pensive as opposed to my short fused and boisterous self. She’s beautiful, loving and caring….as well as willing to try most things and that too with a smile.

At the side of the river the previous evening I confronted two local fishermen (about the only two we saw during our two chilly days in Gysinge) and asked where they might recommend good fishing. After a brief conversation about fishing they inquired why I was in the middle of nowhere camping in the snow. Hearing my dialect surely convinced them that I was a crazy foreigner. Then I informed them that I was here with my wife. When they heard that she too was fishing and camping they became quite awestruck. “That’s quite a woman you have there to camp in these conditions.” “Without complaint either.” I genuinely boasted.

These men made me see yet again why I’m so in love with such a wonderful person. This surely explains the reason why asked her to be my wife last Valentines Day on the side of the Seine. It would also explain the wonderful and saga-like wedding we had on the 13th September 2003 here in Stockholm. Adventure is easy to come by with Eva. Even lazy nights on the couch with her have me in a personal harmony that until now I had never quite experiencnc. Newlyweds, not just for the time being…but for always.

A one way bridge covered in a blanket of snow as soft as a down comforter and white as her skin during the dark Nordic winters. The calming gurgling sounds of the Dalälven with it’s eddies and rapids under my feet with fish hiding in the dark waters and Mallards flying and foraging in haste before everything freezes over. The vibrance of nature’s last stand, Autumn surrounds me.

Before me lies a road. It offers me the option of turning back or continuing forward. If I go back then it leads me to somewhere I’ve been, something familiar though not new and exciting. Before me lies two tracks and that what’s at the end of these tracks is unclear.

I see these two tracks over a series of bridges as a metaphor for my life with Eva. The tracks lead us forward side by side, hand in hand. The bridges escorts us over potential danger. The end of the road is unclear though we both continue forward knowing that we shall do our best to endure despite the mystery of what the next bend might bring. Likewise, we are swallowed up by the beauty of nature surrounding us. And finally, the sun is rising upon us. Like a beacon in the night and the comforting security of a campfire, it sheds its warmth upon us and illuminates the way for us on this, the dawn of our new life together.

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