Married In Ohio

I’ll pay for it with very late nights today and Monday but I took a much needed day off from work on Saturday and took California Girl out to dinner. It seems strange saying that I took a day off on Saturday but I’ve working weekends for so long, I can’t remember when my last free weekend was. The Girl had an early out of town soccer game which meant I had to be up and early; but even with the long drive, I was back home and had the day to myself by 1:30 or so.

I had planned to catch up with everyone in blogland; but spent the time catching up with California Girl instead. She accompanied me while I ran a few “fun” errands like going to the computer store. Then I washed the car and took a nap. My late afternoon naps are always great since California Girl usually joins me and we don’t go to sleep right away. But we really did sleep for a bit. Afterwards we got up and went out for our new favorite restaurant for a sumptuous dinner. It’s very expensive; but we love eating there for special occasions.

Our 20^th wedding anniversary is this month and we wanted to celebrate. It’s hard to believe we’ve been together that long. Even when I’m not cutting it off, I’ve lost most all of the hair that I had when we first met; but California Girl looks almost exactly the same. I’ve no doubt she could still wear the same dress now as she did then if they were still in style. Days like this don’t come around very often and I’m glad it was a good one.

Scroll down to view our Two For Tuesday post.

I’m being pulled in a lot of directions at work so California Girl has had to rearrange her schedule on very short notice numerous times recently in order to get both kids to practice. It’s something that happens to everyone; but, earlier today (Tuesday) as I hung up the phone after letting her know that I was going to be late once again, I was struck by the great it is to have a partner. She doesn’t complain about not being informed earlier or expect me to “trade” another errand with her. She really doesn’t mind altering her plans if I’m having a long day at the office. Obviously, she’s going to make sure the kids get to their practices. It’s more the way that she looks at it. She considers it helping me out as much as or more than doing something for the kids. She has told many, many times that she doesn’t think of the things that I ask her to do as burdens or impositions; but is still nice to be reminded through her actions. I don’t know what I would do without her.

As I look around blogland, I can’t help but notice how many people are breaking up, getting divorced, etc. Even a few couples whose relationships had withstood the test of time and seemed like they would last forever are going the separate ways. We all plan to be together forever with the people that we love. Sadly, that has not happened in so many cases.

Amazingly, despite our many incompatibilities, California Girl and I have managed to stay together for almost 24 years. I’m not sure what we did to earn such a gift but its one that we both revel in. I’ve never considered myself a lucky person; but so far as staying marriage goes, I have been very fortunate indeed.

We’ve had our share of ups and downs. But, somehow, the connection that we have is still thriving. And we have even more fun together today than we did in olden times. I wish I knew the secret of our success. If I did, I would share it with everyone. Unfortunately, I don’t. But I do know how blessed we are and I am going to enjoy it.

Everyone have a wonderful Saturday night. I know we are.

Anyone who is married or living together knows that relationships have their ups and downs and that everything will not be perfect all of the time. Success is measured by what happens in the good times not what happens when things are not so good. For California Girl and me things have been very, very good for an extended period of time. I don’t know why. If I did, I would bottle it and save it for a time when things aren’t going as well as they are now. But since I can’t, I’m just going to savor these great days and hope the time when we aren’t flying so high is far in the future.

It’s been almost 24 years since we first met. We’ve been a part of each other’s lives for so long I can’t even imagine life without her. She is home and the place where I know I belong. We have both changed a lot since that day long ago in the video arcade. But the connection we forged is as strong as it ever has been. We share a passion that is difficult to put into words. We don’t have as much in common as some couples. And we don’t always do what the other one expects. But, together, we have crafted something that makes all of our incompatibilities seem minor. At the end of the day, we both know what truly matters. These days are priceless and something to be remembered forever.

It was 19 years ago yesterday that California Girl and I got married. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years but our connection with each other is still as strong as it was when first started dating. We’re “responsible” but we still like to go out and have fun. And some things, like going to a nice restaurant with your SO is a timeless pleasure.

California Girl and I went to dinner at a very nice restaurant on Saturday and reminisced about the past 24 years. It’s hard for us to believe that it was that long ago that we met. In some ways it seems like a lifetime ago; in others it seems like yesterday. We have both grown and changed in many ways; but the things that have characterized our relationship are still the same. It hasn’t always been easy; but we would both do it all over again if we still had the chance.

This blog is about the present so we don’t write much about the past. But, sometimes, it’s good to look back and recollect the wonderful times we have shared together.

When Midwestern City Boy came home from work, he surprised me with flowers and an anniversary card. Our anniversary isn’t until Sunday, but he wrote in the card that he wanted to start the weekend on a good note.

This surprise was especiallywelcome after a long, frazzling week of power interruptions and other assorted frustrating stuff. I know that I don’t tell Midwestern City Boy often enough how much I appreciate his thoughtfulness… so here’s a post to say I LOVE YOU… and happy early anniversary too!

I would like to wish moms every where and especially California Girl a Happy Mothers Day.

It’s late in the day that I’m posting this but that’s because we had such a wonderful weekend. I came home early from work on Friday and we got into the pool. I had to work on Saturday; but we made up for it by seeing Spiderman 3 at the new movie theater. And the Girl did not have any soccer games today so we had the entire day to ourselves. Plus, I cut the grass in the dark on Thursday just so we didn’t have any chores to do this weekend. For us, holidays are not about gifts (even though we give them) but about being together. And we were able to hang out and enjoy each other’s company. The only thing wrong with the weekend was that it was not long enough. I hope your weekend was as good as ours was.

Miss_Chamko recently posted the following question on our Why I Think My Wife is HOT post.

I can’t help admire your admiration for CG. I am not sure how to ask this but is it that you’ve never either one of you flirted with anyone else since you’ve been together? And if CG told you she is attracted to someone else and wasn’t sure of her love for you, what would you tell her?

Since that post was so long ago, I though that I would answer her question here.

If California Girl was attracted to someone else I’d find him and put a major beat down on him so that he’d be too scared to call, much less come around. Seriously, I’d fight to win back her affections; but I’m not sure what that means. I don’t have a lot of charms so I’d probably have to think for awhile about what to say to convince her that I’m the one for her. Every relationship, our included, has its ups and downs, so I’d want for her to think about how things compare when we are flying high versus whatever problem we were having that made her susceptible to someone else in the first place. And to remember, the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. When you’ve been together for as long as we have you know almost everything about each other, both good and bad. Someone new is always “better” since you haven’t yet encountered their flaws.

I meet people from time to time who seem genuinely interesting and sincere; some of whom even make propositions to me. But somehow I just can’t imagine myself anyplace but here. What we have is rare and I don’t think that it could ever be replicated. California Girl was there in olden times when things were great. She was there when we had small kids and things were not so great. And she’s here now when things are going pretty good. The experience of living through those times has made us who we are now. Without having been there, I don’t think anyone else could come close to understanding me, much less reproduce the connection that California Girl and I share. And I still think very few, if any, women out there are hot for same top ten reasons as California Girl.

California Girl gave me a great start to an otherwise miserable day. I was up early this morning making phone calls and sending e-mails in response to a minor crisis at work and was just planning on getting dressed and going in to the office when she came downstairs to check on me. We had some time before my alarm was set to go off so we went back upstairs, threw the towels down on top of the unmade bed and had some wonderful serendipitous sex.

We must make quite a sight to a fly on the wall. While I was carefully resetting my alarm clock to the absolute minimum time required to get showered and dressed and drive the kids to school, California Girl was putting away her robe and climbing up onto the towels. Minutes before, I was one the telephone solving problems and she was enjoying her sleep. Then, in a matter of moments, all of that was left behind and it was just us getting away from it all for a while.

I had a “challenging” day at work but the great start made it much more manageable. I know we won’t be able to have mornings like this every day; but I can’t wait for our summer schedule to begin.

I looked for a picture; but, despite the hundreds and hundreds of photographs we have, I couldn’t find one which conveyed the right “feeling”. Still I wanted to say that “California Girl, you are the finest woman that I have ever known. I am glad that we found each other that gray autumn day long ago. We’ve had a lot of gray days outside but a lot of sunny days inside.”