Happy Anniversary to Us

Yesterday was TJ and my 33rd anniversary.  We spent the entire day alone together.  We did not go out to a fancy restaurant for dinner, we did not take a long walk barefoot on a white sandy beach or stroll the city streets in some far off country.  We did walk 4 miles on a rural country road in the drizzle, not as romantic as it might sound.  We were perfectly content to just hang out together at the farmhouse and do our fixing up and organizing.  The sun did not shine all day, very much like our wedding day 33 years ago! 

We were not in Italy like we were on our 30th anniversary.....

When I think back 33 years ago, we spent our first night in our very small, old, apartment before heading out on our honeymoon.  You could fit four of that apartment in this farmhouse!  We started out with not much more than a hope and a dream....some common sense, a good work ethic, an education, good families behind us, a sense of humor ( which has probably been one of the more useful tools in our marriage!) and love and respect for each other.  We still have all of these things and so much more!

TJ and I never came up here to the shore before we got married.  As a summer shore person for my entire life, I knew I could never marry someone who did not love it up here.  A trip to Amherst Shore is one of the tests when considering marrying someone, if they don't like it here, they are out!  But then again, who does not like it here?  I guess there have been a few.  Our first trip up here came at the end of our first year of marriage and I was pregnant with our first child.  We were nuts (naive)!  We flew to Boston from Baton Rouge, then got on a bus for the 18 hour (11 by car) ride through every small town and village between Boston and Amherst, Nova Scotia.  I still swear we were delivering the mail because we stopped at every outpost on the way.  My back was never the same after that ride for the rest of my pregnancy. 

The best part of the trip was when we arrived in Amherst and TJ looked at me and asked how we were getting out to the shore.  Oops, I forgot to make any arrangements to be picked up in town!  My bad.  This was in the dark ages before cell phones, or even telephones in cottages....what to do?  I called the corner store by our cottage and asked it they could go and get my cousin and give them a message to call us back or just come to town and pick us up!  The pony express!  My cousin got the message and called us back and came out to town to pick us up!  I have only found out recently what TJ was thinking during that long wait at the bus station in Amherst all those years ago.  First would be...."my wife is an idiot!"  second might be "What am I getting myself into?"  and finally might be "I have entered a time warp!".

I was a bit nervous on that trip.  It was my first time to come up here without my family, I was a married woman (yikes!) now and on my own.  I was also wondering if TJ would love this place that was so important to me.  Well.....he took to it like a duck takes to water, literally, because it rained 9 out of 11 days we were here!  And he loved the place!  If you can love this place in the rain you will really love it on those breezy, sunny, warm days.   So yesterday when we had the same weather we had all those years ago, TJ was as happy as ever.  He was doing the same thing he did that first rainy summer.  He worked on an old house, this time he owns the old house instead of working on someone else's house.  A lot has changed but a lot has stayed the same.  I'm glad he loves it here as much as "I do".  

The Pile-On Sisters

I have three sisters and a brother.  When we all get together it can be a lot of fun!  We get going and one thing leads to another and we sometimes end up like this....


the sisters doing the "formation"

 
I am not one of the ones in the middle...but I still like them.  Lately, every time we are all together we end up doing yoga poses and not in a zen, meditative way.  It is more like a "can you do this?" or "watch this!" way.  We don't plan to end up on the floor contorting ourselves but it seems that's where we end up.  What?  Your family doesn't do that?  You should try it, especially after a few glasses of wine.

We were together celebrating our Dad's 80th birthday this weekend.  We had  brunch on Sunday and had all 5 siblings together at the table along with some of our spouses and some of our kids.  No, we did not do yoga poses on the floor.  It was so good to be together and so good to be able to celebrate with Dad.  He looks pretty good for 80 and as he pointed out, he can see, hear and think even though he does move around a bit slow.  I'll take slow thank you very much!



Mom and Dad on Dad's 80th birthday



While we were waiting for our meal to arrive, one of my sisters commented to my husband that he is very loud when he wakes up in the morning.  That one comment started another family activity we refer to as....time to pile on TJ!  He was fair game and none of us held back, except for my brother who felt brotherly compassion for TJ but was enjoying the show so much that he mostly sat in disbelief and laughed and was probably glad he ducked the "pile on" bullet.  The conversation sounded something like this...."TJ, you chew very loudly.  TJ, you type louder that anyone on the planet.  TJ, what possessed you to walk back and forth over the wood floors wearing your dress shoes on at 6 in the morning?"  My sisters just kept piling on!  Most of it revolved around the fact that he wakes up before anyone in the house and is unaware of how noisy he is, or maybe he just wants us all to wake up when he does and join in the door slamming and loud chewing.  His noises are all amplified in a silent snoozing house.  The doors and drawers opening and closing, those heels making noise on the floor and the newspaper flipping all gets done with such enthusiasm by TJ in the morning.....because he is a  morning person.....and it bothers me because....I am not.

I am glad I married a loud, early riser who can take the abuse from my sisters.  He said he was happy to provide the entertainment at the table while we waited for our food, otherwise we might have had to start doing yoga poses in our dress clothes at a restaurant.  Think how proud our Dad would have been at that sight on his 80th birthday.   Way to save us from ourselves TJ!   

A Blast From the Past

One good thing about moving is that it gives you a chance to get rid of all the junk and do some serious cleaning. I shudder to think of how much garbage we would live with if we had not moved these last few times. The clutter would be insurmountable! As it is, my dear husband is one of those people who just can't throw anything away. He has papers from elementary school stashed away somewhere I am sure. Be careful what you write to him or send him, it will live forever. Most times this drives me batty as I try to rid our environment of the papers he has collected only to be busted with a plead to "please don't throw that away, I want to keep it." Aargh!

Last week, I bought a new desk for our study, a real grown up (not one salvaged from the office for $25) beautiful wood desk. It was TJ's weekend "job" to GET ORGANIZED! Please.... He was like a kid with a new toy. Yipee! If I had only known all he needed was a desk. Papers were filed, bills paid, and some papers even got thrown away. And then just when I thought he was turning over a new leaf he came across something that will only justify him never throwing anything away for as long as we both shall live. It was my write-up of our first trip to Europe with our 4 kids. Attached to it was Kelly's handwritten (in her best 7 year old printing) journal of the trip as well. The kid was a writer from early on!

A few priceless entries from the journals are:

Rachel took a shower and came out. Kelly commented that Rachel had not been in there very long. Rachel told her she had showered, shaved and washed her hair, what else was there? Kelly thought about it and replied, "Well, you didn't sing."
Later, Kelly took her shower and everyone was listening for the singing but there was none. She was still in there for quite a while. Rachel said, "Kelly, you didn't sing." Kelly said, "I know, I did the hokey pokey." Showers are one of Kelly's life's pleasures. Still laughing out loud at that one!

All through Paris Kelly kept asking why there were so many naked women in France. Referring to the many sculptures and paintings we saw in the museums. Then she asked where were the naked men? I told her they were all in Italy. So when we went to Italy she found out that was right. The sculpture of David in Florence was all the proof she needed. Stunning.

Unpacking boxes has been a little bit like Christmas in May. You never know what you might find. Sometimes you just might find a buried treasure!