On My Mind: Hey, Life IS Good

“It doesn’t matter where you go in life.  It’s who you have beside you.”  Unknown

19 years

6,939  days (including leap years)

166,536 hours

100s of fights and makeups

4 cats

2 homes

4 cars

and so much more

Groundhog’s Day rolled around again and it was time for us to celebrate another year of marital bliss (at least, right at this moment).  But, this year, it was so different for us.  Besides me having the flu, which always makes for romantic moments as you can imagine, I was actually feeling well enough to kinda celebrate between sneezing and blowing my nose.

When we got together many moons ago, we were already mature (I was 43 and he was 52) and neither of us were actively looking for love.  But life can have so many strange twists and people can come together in so many different ways.  Before too long, nineteen years can go by and you realize how much has transpired in your life.

What’s exciting for us this year is that this is the year we step out for a new beginning:

• We just closed on our home in Baltimore
• We’ll be staying in Baltimore through May and will be able to pack leisurely.
• We’ve rented an adorable Cape Cod in Woodstock village where we’ll spend the summer and it’s about ¼ mile from our new home
• We’ll move into our new home – our dream home – in September.
• We’ll be buying more long underwear to get ready for next winter in Vermont. 

A whole new life.  A new town to explore and make home.  New friends to meet.  An opportunity to investigate new interests.  And, in nice weather… road biking in, if not the best, right up near the top of the list, places in the country.  In snowy weather, making use of the cross-country skis and treasuring the quietness of winter.

I keep pinching myself to make sure it’s really happening.  And, Bob feels the same way.  Here we are at this point in our lives where we can do this.  Just last night he said, “What if we’d just sold the house and traveled all over the world?”  Initially, my  “Eat Pray Love” longings kicked in thinking about 3 months in Tuscany, 3 months in San Miguel de Allende and 3 months in Scotland.  But, what about Minkey and Weasel?  What about being settled?  What about having some roots?

In the end, having roots feels good and creating this new life together in our new home and beautiful village is more than exciting.  And, we’ll just take some vacations to those other great places.

Nineteen years ago, I never could have predicted all of this happening.  Through the years, there were so many times when I am sure both of us just wanted to walk away and be done with it all – not much different from other marriages.  And, often I think, it’s so much easier to just walk away than to work through the grunge and cherish what’s in front of you.  Staying together creates a different type of relationship.  A stronger one where you can overlook the stuff that drove you nuts fifteen years earlier.  The goodness rises to the surface.

You realize that life IS good.  Pinch. Pinch.

What are you pinching yourself about?