And They Said it Wouldn't Last ....

On June 9th, Hubby and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary!

I KNOW! THAT'S A LONG TIME!

This is us on our 28th anniversary two years ago. We celebrated it at York Harbor Inn in York Maine, which is where we got married. We just happened to be in New England at that time during our 2012 RV Road Trip. We hadn't planned to be there - in fact we were only there because of a delay in our travel plans caused by a problem with the RV. But it was a silver lining for it to work out that way!

The day we got married - June 9, 1984, it was 103 degrees!

I KNOW! WHEN IS IT EVER 103 DEGREES IN MAINE????

June 9, 1984, that's when.

When we met, I was 25 and he was 40.

I KNOW! THAT SOUNDS SCANDALOUS!

We married when I was 28.5 and he was 44. We'd both been married before.

I KNOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I'D ALREADY BEEN 

MARRIED AND DIVORCED BY THE AGE OF 25!

Wait ... it gets better...

Hubby had been married  and divorced TWICE!

I KNOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????

So at our house, we don't make fun of the Multiply-Married.When Dick met actress Ali MacGraw (now I'm name-dropping) at my book signing in Santa Fe, they bonded over their similar marital histories ... except she'd been divorced one more time than he had.

That's Ali at my signing - isn't she beautiful??

Hey look, nobody gets married thinking they'll get married more than once. But LIFE HAPPENS! Finding out that life isn't perfect and usually doesn't work out the way you PLANNED IT, is what makes us more compassionate and less JUDGMENTAL. If you've lived a perfect life, I really don't want to be friends with you because you are most likely seriously delusional, not to mention annoying.

ANYWAY! DICK (AKA RVPAINTER) AND I HAVE NOW BEEN MARRIED FOR 30 YEARS.

I think that it takes a LONG time to figure out how to be with another person in a really good way. There's always that tug-of-war between bonding with another and maintaining an individual identity, especially at the beginning.

And there were a lot of challenges for us at first because of high tension with Dick's ex. (High tension is a euphemism for "we lived in terror"). In those days, fathers weren't treated with much (much is a euphemism for "any") respect when it came to custody rights - it was all about the mom. But we made his son a priority and made sure we never missed our "that's-all-you-get" court-allotted every-other-weekend and one week of summer vacation. We were under constant threat of losing visitation if we were EVER five minutes late bringing him home. (I'm not making that up). We were never allowed to have him on Christmas - ever, which was very unkind. (Very unkind is a euphemism for MEAN.)  We also never missed a support payment or any other kind of support for that matter. I think things have gotten more equitable for fathers in divorce now when it comes to joint custody and other rights. At least I hope so!

WOW! I WENT OFF ON A LITTLE RANT THERE!
DO I SOUND BITTER?

NAH ... It's water under the dam. I mean over the bridge. I mean - you know what I mean! But I can still be outraged by injustice right? It's RIGHT to be outraged by injustice....RIGHT????

BUT I DIGRESS!

Dick had a heart attack at the age of 49 and that was pretty scary. Worse, it was while we were on vacation in ARUBA! He got to spend the better part of a week at the Dr. Horacio E. Oduber Hospital, where he received excellent and kindly care except for that one nurse who seemed to not like him and left the thermometer in his ... well, never mind about that.

I KNOW! WAY TO SPOIL A NICE VACATION, DICK!

But he's been fine ever since, and he's 74 now! (You can do the math to figure out how old I am).

Like everyone, we've had rough times and good times.

We've gained friends and lost friends. The friends we have now are the best ones ever - they are good for us and we for them. They are the people with whom we can laugh like little kids, and cry for their sorrows like they were our own.

We've learned and grown together. I supported his growth as an artist and he supported mine as a writer and a yoga teacher.

Some of the hard times were REALLY hard, but those times actually brought us closer. In the face of trouble, we became a united front. And the good times were sweeter and more precious for having had times that were hard.

I can honestly say that we are closer now than we've ever been. Things that used to provoke an argument now just make us laugh. We are easier with each other and more accepting of each other's quirks. (He's a tad OCD, and I am annoyingly optimistic).

After 30 years, we know we'll be there for each other, guaranteed. We're family, and family sticks together.

So, Happy Anniversary to my Sweetheart and thank you for sharing this journey called life with me.

All our old photos are in our 10 BY 10 STORAGE UNIT IN SANTA FE, so I can't show you how we looked way back in 1984. But this is how we look now:

I KNOW! WE ARE STILL WICKED CUTE, HUH?

When we were first together and working our buns off, we dreamed of living in a warm climate with sunshine and nice beaches. Happy to say that finally, 30 years later, we do!

Review and Guest Post: Becky Lewellen Povich, Author of From Pigtails to Chin Hairs

When writer and humorist Becky Lewellen Povich said she was penning her memoir, I couldn't wait to read it. Well, she made me wait ... and wait ... and wait ... but while I waited, she wrote ... and wrote ... and wrote ... and now her wonderful book,  FROM PIGTAILS TO CHIN HAIRS is finally available! And it was SO worth the wait!

So first, here's my review of her book. After that you'll find a funny post from Becky's blog and all the pertinent links to her book and website. 

REVIEW of FROM PIGTAILS TO CHIN HAIRS:

If you grew up in the 1950's and 1960's, you will LOVE this book! And even if you didn't, it will make that era come vividly to life for you. It's filled with humorous vignettes, but like any good memoir, it's also about life. And as we all know, life isn't always rosy. 

I am a child of that era too, and even though Becky grew up in Missouri and I grew up in Massachusetts, sometimes I felt like Becky and I shared the same childhood!  We watched the same TV shows, played marbles in our driveways and made potholders that we sold to our neighbors. (Did everybody do that???)

Her writing is witty and her storytelling skills masterful. And she knows just how and when, in the middle of the stories of happy times, to foreshadow some harder times to come. Her prose is alternately laugh-out-loud funny and poignant. Becky says there will be a sequel to this memoir, and I can't wait to read it. 

Now here's a humorous post from Becky's blog. At the end, you'll find the links to her blog, website and pages on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Vern, BBQ Grill, Hazel, & Roseanne Roseannadanna

I've blogged a few times about my clumsiness; falling down steps, bumping into furniture, and tripping over this or that. Well at 6:30am one morning, when Vern and I were outside, I fell and...

as Hazel would say, it was a doozy!

I took this picture from our deck last year. 

Do you see that tiny little silver spec in the grass?

Same picture. Cropped closer.

Do you see it now?

Same photo again. Cropped even closer. 

Yes, there it is. The Culprit. 

This is the drive-way & parking lot behind our townhouse. The decks are over the garages, and we have a beautiful and private view. Vern and I have walked along, and up and down, that little grassy hill zillions of times. He always knows when, and how to, back up and out of an area. Normally, if he sniffs too close or behind that BBQ grill, I pull gently on his leash, and he then backs out and trots along the front of it.

Vern

Well, that morning he was quite a bit behind it, in the shrubs. So I decided to pull him out of there, on the back side of the grill, but frontwards. He got confused and turned the other way, and so before I could lift the leash up high enough, he and I kind of "clothes-lined" the grill! 

As it began to roll down, I tried to stop it, and somehow slipped or tripped, bounced around a bit and fell down the little hill, landing on my back and derriere on the hard concrete. As that was happening, the grill's lid fell off and clanked, my glasses and baseball cap flew off my head, and my cell phone slid out of my pocket.

I sat there for a few minutes and knew I hadn't broken any bones, thank goodness, but my left knee and left arm hurt quite a bit. 

I wondered if anyone heard or witnessed my tumble, but I really didn't care one way or the other. I was so glad I had on jeans, because I could tell my left knee was scraped and bleeding, and it would've been a lot worse with shorts on.

Vern and I walked home. I cleaned up my scrapes and crawled back into bed. 

“The Ronald” wasn't a bit aware of it until a couple of hours later when he woke up and I told him all about my latest escapade, and then added,

"It just goes to show you, it's always something--if it ain't one thing, it's another." -- Roseanne Roseannadanna

Becky's Links:

Blog

Website

Becky's Book on Barnes and Noble

Becky's book on Amazon

A Grandma's Review of The Christmas Village

What a lovely thing to wake up to ... this review of The Christmas Village from a grandma who is reading it for the second time with her grandson:

"I'm reading this wonderful story with my grandson, because he's too young to read it to himself. Despite that, he is on the edge of his seat (or my lap!) and always sighs with regret when we have to stop reading until the next day.This is our second reading, and we're both enjoying it even more than the first time. We're noticing more details, and feel like we know Jamie, Kelly and Chris, better.This is a classic for sure in our family, and we have Return to Canterbury ready to read next! Many thanks to Ms. Goodwin for helping me make more great memories with my grandson!"

Reviews like this one are what keep us writers going!

Both The Christmas Village and Return to Canterbury are ON SALE for summer. The Christmas Village is only 99 cents for Kindle and $8.99 paperback! Return to Canterbury takes place over the Fourth of July, so now is the perfect time to read The Christmas Village and follow up with Return to Canterbury. Happy Summer Reading everyone!