Anniversary

This past week my husband and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary. We don't know what happened to all those years. It seems they just slipped away. We have lots of memories and photos to help us remember. Unusual things trigger memories too. It might be a song, a call from an old friend, or even a new fad. I think it is odd that we don't remember the same things and suppose that is because of the differences in our focus.  But I digress, my intention was to write about our anniversary.

We've commented to each other about friends who ended a marriage, saying they often traded their current problem for a new set of problems. We have been lucky that our problems have not been immense. No marriage is perfect and sometimes ending a marriage can be the best result. For us, working together seems to help sustain our close relationship. We both view marriage as a give and take relationship and neither one expects to be "in charge".

We both have changed a lot in those 42 years and some things about us have remained the same. In the early years we worked together on building small storage barns to supplement our income. He would complete the construction and I would help by painting the finished building. Together we have taken lessons to learn disco dancing, play acoustic guitar, modern square dance, create stained glass objects, and some I can't recall.

He has worked at his family business for 50 years. I have worked there when I have had time, while going to college and still on many Saturdays. We still work together competing the monthly billing for the family business.

We have had individual interests too. He worked on cars, took courses to learn how to paint a car, design heat & air units for houses and design and oversee the building of those houses. His interest still involves cars. He has quite a collection of cars and parts. Together we attend car shows and swap meets. We travel to lots of interesting places.

Over the years, I have worked at several different jobs. I've taken lots of classes, artistic and with an end in mind. I attended college after we married and earned Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in education. I'm still taking classes and learning new things in my current job.

Within a few years, we will retire. Our plans include more traveling. Hopefully, the difference will be that we won't need to hurry back to work. I hope I can find something to fulfill my days with work. :)