33 Years

Today, my husband and I celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary.  On June 4, 1977, three weeks after we graduated from college, we walked down the aisle and promised to stay married to each other "as long as we both shall live."  At age 21, we had no clue what we were doing.  It has been a constant learning and growing experience which has rarely been easy.  I believe any married couple would say the same thing.  No matter how much love is involved, actually promising to live with someone for the rest of your life on this earth and then keeping that promise, is not going to be easy.  It is always going to involve patience, compromise and yes, pain. 

We learned quickly that our different temperaments would always require compromise.  He is the world's greatest extrovert, totally energized from without.  He is at his best when "performing", whether it be in the classroom, conducting a concert, giving a presentation or being the life of the party.  He loves large groups, noisy places and lots of activity.  I, on the other hand, am a complete introvert, totally energized from within.  I love, and am truly comfortable being alone, much prefer intimate conversations with one or two people, become claustrophobic in large crowds and require time to recover after having to spend time in any situation in which I become overstimulated.  Needless to say, this has always been our issue of greatest conflict and has required the greatest amount of compromise from BOTH of us.  We have learned that sometimes it's o.k. to just say, "you go do your thing and I'll go do mine."  But we've also learned that sometimes you agree to do things that aren't comfortable just because that's part of loving someone more than you love yourself.  Thankfully, we know each others "quirk's" so well that we know exactly when to push or when to back off.  That's why we've been married 33 years and that's why we'll still be married in 50 years!

We are still in the Blowing Rock/Boone, North Carolina area and enjoying every minute of it.  We have hiked several times, visited some farmer's markets, strolled the streets of Blowing Rock, but mostly just hung out in our gorgeous cabin with a beautiful view of Grandfather Mountain.  The weather has been delighfully cool and we are beginning to dread heading back to the heat and humidity of East Tennessee on Sunday.

I have done well with my eating this week and hope to reflect a weight loss on Sunday.  I have allowed myself a small treat here and there, but have done it in a way that "normal" weight people probably do.  The thing that is most encouraging to me right now is that it hasn't been hard.  I enjoyed the two bites of my husband's mega-cookie from Sticky Boy Bread Company instead of us buying six cookies and my eating three of them before we got back to our cabin like I would have done in the past.   I finished the last few bites of my husband's Kilwin's single scoop waffle cone rather than having one of my own.  (We'll ignore the fact that HE can't even eat all of a single scoop!! Says it just doesn't taste good any more. That's not on my radar!!  LOL!)  

Time to go wake up sleepyhead and wish him a Happy Anniversary!