Our Anniversary

This is my second marriage and today is our anniversary...  Not sure if we should celebrate 25 years or 30 years.  We have been together for 30 years but only married for 25 of those 30 years.  We were both divorce after 23 years in our first marriages and decided to get to know each other for 5 years before we got married again, just to make sure it was the right direction for both of us.  

I cannot honestly say that those 5 years made any difference or not...  we still have similarities and we still have differences...  and, now that we are retired, we spend our days differently...  coming together in the mornings briefly and coming together in the evening briefly to share whatever it is that we want to share.

We go on vacations together, not separately and we go out for dinner and breakfast once a week.  However, my wife goes to lunch sometimes with her friends and we both attend our doctor's apppointments separately unless there is a need for both of us to be there.  We were both together when I had follow-ups with my orthopedic surgeon when 5 disks of my lower back were fused.  Two ears are better than one.

On the days that I have chemo and IVIG infusions, I always go by myself...  there is just no reason for her to be there, sitting with me for 3 hours, when my premeds typically put me to sleep for half the time.

We both retired in 2015 when I was 67 and she was 62 and for the first 5 years, we went on week long vacations every other month.  After 5 years, we had enough of traveling, airports, customs, playing the tourist, and trying to figure out where we need to go and how to get there since we did not speak the language.  Not everyone in Europe speaks English.  Living out of a suitcase was also a pain...  and, we saw just about everything that we wanted to see.

At 75 and 70, we have slowed down a lot and are only into 2 vacations a year and those vacations will be Myrtle Beach, SC...  once in May and again in September, both times are before and after the main season.  We stay in an ocean front condo for 7 nights and spend most of the day under an umbrella.

Back home in East TN, we have an above ground pool, a huge deck surrounding the pool that has a 12 X 12 foot pentagon Gazebo, a hot tub, a grill and deck furniture where we spend most of our time during the warm days of spring, summer, and fall.  IF it gets too humid, I stay inside.

Our community is basically retired folks so it is very quiet and very safe.  We walk around the community for exercise.  We are a mile from a Walmart Super Center where we get our groceries and there is a gas station a half mile away.  We are 8 miles from the interestate and 30 miles where are the restaurants are...  although, many of the restaurants are building about 10 miles from the house, so we will soon not need to drive to Knoxville for dinner.

The Great Smoky Mountains (and Gatlinburg) are less than an hour away and the NASCAR racetrack in Bristol is also about an hour away.  Dollywood is before we get to Gatlinburg.  Nashville is about 3-4 hours away and Chattanooga is about 3 hours away.

In the 20 years that we have owned our home, it has more than doubled in value.  Our house sits on an acre of land and you can park 3 cars side by side between our neighbors on either side...  so we have plenty room to stretch out.

At my age, I proabably only have 20 more years at the most to live with my wife and she with me.  Fortunately, we get along and enjoy each other's company.   While we are not wealthy, we have enough to live like we want and we both enjoy the way we live.