Mrs Hannah Roddie | Pinnacle Newsletter #16
#16 Mrs Hannah Roddie
On the 19th of May, after almost eight years together, Hannah and I were married.
I’ve already told the story of how we met and the years between that moment and our engagement. We’ve both lost family members since then, and I think there was an expectation that it would be a bittersweet day, but in the end it could hardly have been more perfect – largely thanks to my wife’s superb planning. She has a lot of experience planning and leading Scout and Guide camps, which, along with her formidable ability to hand-make virtually anything, proved a valuable combination of skills. Her mum, Linda, made an astounding 200ft of bunting.
More importantly, everything felt right for us. We married in the local church, in the village where Hannah grew up. Many family members and friends were there. The sun shone. When we got to the venue, the photographer took us for a walk through the gardens, where light cast dappled shadows through the green leaves of the trees and the bluebells seemed to glow at our feet. Hours later we sat together in the darkened garden and talked about life while the guests danced and chatted in the marquee.
I’ll close with a brief extract from my groom’s speech:
It takes a special sort of woman to put up with me. I often disappear into the mountains for weeks, I spend my time worrying about things like hyphenation and magazine circulation figures, and I’ll regularly go off on long rants about subjects few other people care about. The list of things I love about Hannah is pretty long: she climbs mountains, likes camping, loves the Scottish Highlands, reads at least as much as I do, and has a sharp editorial mind – although this can be a little annoying when she uses it to predict the plot of our favourite TV shows with fiendish accuracy.
Sometimes people ask me how I could have given up living amongst the mountains. The truth is that I feel like the luckiest man on the planet, and have done for nearly eight years now. I’m a little amazed, but more than a little proud, that today I get to call Hannah my wife.
Recently published
The perspective shift – I'm making huge positive changes to my life at the moment, and here's how. The why is a bit more complex.
First look: Atom Packs Prospector (video) – a very special ultralight pack, made for me by hand in the Lake District.
Links of interest
Your stoke won't save us – this one's important. A key quote:
Should we fight for public lands because they provide us with recreation opportunities, or because they support biodiversity? Should we only protect those plants and animals that directly benefit us or that we find beautiful — or should we fight for the entire community of life?
Alex Hibbert and the Dark Ice Project – Ash Routen interviews Alex Hibbert.
Cottage interviews: Paul Stokes of Tread Lite Gear – Hendrik Morkel and Paul Stokes in conversation about what it takes to earn a living from making lightweight backpacking gear.
Why are deer dying in Scotland's hills?
From my commonplace book
Contentment is not the fulfilment of what you want, but the realisation of how much you already have.
– No attribution
Until next time,
Alex
www.alexroddie.com