forty-three years ago today I married my beloved… it was an amazing day filled with emotion…

August 1, 1970…

we worked for eight years before having our first child and made the decision that I would stay home with the children as long as we could manage… two years later along came our second child…

we had an idyllic life and I had the amazing privilege of being home with my girls throughout their years of school… George worked the whole time and we managed very well…

the girls left home and we enjoyed our slightly smaller nest… we got to do different things but also had lots of time with the kids… our grand kids came along and we had wonderful times with them…

since the girls left home we have had Sunday dinners together and the places around the table have grown and shrunk and grown depending on who was available on any particular Sunday night…

we got to visit the West Coast a number of times when Cyndi and Ron moved out there, and had lots of amazing time in our garden sanctuary…

we both went through some health issues and life wasn’t perfect, but it was our life…

these are the things I have been thinking about today…

August 1, 2011…

a day doesn’t go by that I don’t remember the love of my life and think how proud he would be of me as I continue the steps along this new journey in my life…

today was filled with emotion as well, most of it happy, with a few tears…

I wonder what the protocol is for celebrating anniversaries once your spouse is no longer alive… do you forget them, ignore them, pretend they don’t happen… do you take off your wedding ring because you aren’t technically married… these are also things I’ve been pondering the last few days…

40 roses to celebrate 40 years…

as I move forward in this new life I will continue to ponder these questions… maybe you have some answers…

roses the kids sent last year to remember…