in so many words

This weekend Emily and I , and our daughter Rachel, went to Sacramento for a special get-away. It was part “late anniversary present” (for us) and part “early birthday present” (for Rachel’s 18th birthday). We stayed two nights at the Embassy Suites in downtown Sac, and it was pretty awesome - we pampered ourselves in our two-room suite, lounged around in the lobby listening to the indoor waterfalls and surfing the Internet, and stuffed ourselves with the free full breakfast (both mornings I had a delicious bacon/sausage/cheese omelet).

It was a pretty extravagant, and expensive, weekend for us, but Emily and I both felt that a weekend out of town would do us good. So we rested a bit, and also visited our oldest daughter Cyndi and her family. Our son-in-law Lunar cooked up some home-made chicken enchiladas, and Emily and I took grandkids Katie and Eamon to the Sacramento Zoo.

Katie wanted to ride a pony, and so did Eamon… at first. But when it came time for Eamon to mount up, he suddenly and firmly decided that he didn’t want to be a cowboy. So he walked with Grandma while Katie rode her pony, named Ladybug, and Eamon got to pet Ladybug when she stopped for a drink.

At the tiger exhibit, one part of the tiger enclosure has a thick glass window built into the wall - viewers can look in and even stand just inches away from the tigers, just like Katie and Eamon are doing.

So we got to see kangaroos, toucan birds, lemurs, emus, penguins, lions and tigers and a chimpanzee who seemed to enjoy pooping in front of the enclosure window. But a good time was had by all.

Something tells me it’s all happening …

Today is the 5th anniversary of the day Emily and I were married. Five years ago, on a Saturday morning, we met with our kids and a few close friends at Rick and Pam’s house and exchanged vows. Then we held a reception, and about a hundred people passed through the house - Pam was quite a gracious hostess. Afterwards we flew down to San Diego and stayed at the Hotel del Coronado for our honeymoon. It was a wonderful day, and it’s amazing to me that five years has passed so quickly. At the same time, being married to Emily feels so natural that it feels like we’ve been together a long time. I’m looking forward to even more.

Thank you for being my wife, Emily.

The best is yet to be

My wife Emily is talented in many ways, and being an artist is one of those ways. She loves to paint watercolors, and I think that she is very good at it. She has a personal blog where she sometimes posts photos of her watercolor paintings, but today she decided to create a blog dedicated to her artwork, called Art Endeavors. Each post is a brief description of one of her paintings along with a small photo.

When I met Emily, she was very shy about letting anyone see her paintings. Before we were married she lived in a small townhouse down the street from me, and in her garage she had a little desk set up where she painted. I was visiting one day and we went into the garage to look for something. I noticed the watercolors on the desk and complemented her on her painting. She immediately stepped in between me and the desk and began turning over her paintings so I couldn’t see them. So for her to put up this new blog, publishing her paintings to the world, is evidence of the freedom she now feels. And I think that her freedom is reflected in her art. And I am proud of her.

Today is Emily’s birthday.

When I met Emily, seven and 1/2 years ago, she was going through a difficult time, and when November arrived she didn’t feel like celebrating her birthday. I wanted to cheer her up, so I went to the closest supermarket and bought her a small, round chocolate cake and surprised her with it. For several years since then I’ve gone to the same supermarket and bought the same kind of cake, but this year there weren’t any available. So instead I got her a larger chocolate cake and a veggie pizza, which is one of her favorite pizzas.

I also bought her a newer laptop. She’s been using an older, smaller laptop and between her blogging and her journals the older laptop is getting too slow, so I bought her a refurbished Dell Insprion 1501 (with a one year warranty) from the Dell Outlet Store (which has some great deals).

So this birthday, even though she didn’t get her small chocolate cake, she’s much happier than seven years ago.

I didn’t know it was you!