Like a Rock

Twenty years ago tonight I slept in my newly built house with so many of my relatives that most of them slept on the floor.  Several more were sleeping at my parents' home getting ready for the next day's events.

It would be the last night I spent the house that I had only moved into eight months prior. 

I don't recall any great details of that next morning.  Only getting dressed at the church, a few tears, my father walking me down the aisle.  I'm pretty sure THIS time he was happy to be escorting me to my new life with Bob.  I remember standing around the corner when dad pointed out that Bob could see me.  I ducked back around.  And even though it was not a Catholic church, the organist played Ave Maria while we waited.  It struck a chord in my long-ago Catholic roots.

I remember it being a very short but very sweet wedding.  And one where I had no doubt I was walking into my future. 

The road between here and there had such unexpected turns.  Less than a year later, my father lay dying of liver cancer.  I spent our second anniversary at the funeral of what had once been my favorite aunt, the one I was named after. 

Yes there have been terrific heartaches and yet wonderful highs.  The good Lord has blessed us with wonderful grandbabies and sweet memories.  We have great families who can lift our spirits and sweet friends that are more like family.

Last year we had plans to go away on a great trip for our 20th, but the timing was just not with us.  So tomorrow, I'll head off to work, Bob will take his dad to the VA and we'll just keep on keeping on. 

If someone flipped a switch and I was waking up in my old house, knowing today what I didn't know then.....  Yes, I would do it all over again.  Heartaches and disappointment be damned.  We'll be soon settling into our "twilight" years and the future looks even brighter.

Happy Anniversary Bobby. The next twenty will be even better than the first twenty.

"Twenty years now, where'd they go?  Twenty years.  I don't know.  I sit and I wonder sometimes, where they've gone."

Nineteen Years Ago Today

I said my next husband would be responsible and get along with my family.

Hmmmm. 

At the same job now for 36 years.
Drives me crazy BECAUSE he gets along too well with my family, they encourage his silliness.

Oh, there are other qualities, both endearing and crazy, but I don't have time to list them all.

We're heading downtown for a nice dinner. 

Next year is Hawaii.

Yeah, I guess I'll keep him.   Good man, love him more today than 19 years ago. 

I Vote YES

Next spring we will celebrate our 20th anniversary.  I figure that calls for a GOOD trip.  Here's our next destination:

I've convinced Bob by saying, "I'm planning on going to Hawaii for our 20th, wanna join me?"  After a few weeks of this he finally realized I meant it.    New places make him a little nervous, but once we're there he loves it. 

He hasn't quite figured out yet that I'm planning on making it at least a 2 week trip, with a couple of days in San Francisco as a stop over.  I suppose he might realize it when we don't fly back in a week.

So, I'm doing the research on where to go.  I figure we can hit two islands in two weeks.  I have to pick Oahu for one week, I don't want to not see Pearl Harbor and I think Ko Olina is where we might stay.  Waikiki looks too crowded and the only people who complain about the Marriott in Ko Olina on tripadvisor.com gripe about how out of the way it is with nothing to do but lay by the magnificant beach and the wonderful pools.  I'm good with that, thank you very much.

I think I'd like to be on the Big Island the other week.  Seeing all the volcanoes would be amazing.  I would love to find some isolated tropical paradise tiny "hotel" like they show on Survivor when someone wins a reward challenge.  I don't know if such places exist on Hawaii, but I can't imagine that don't.

And reading through the books, today I read this:

"Every 5 days, there is enough lava coming out of Kilauea volcano's eruption to place a thin venner over Washington DC - all 63 square miles"

Now it's even a BETTER idea for vacation.  I vote "yes" to shipping about a month's worth there.