Then and now

These pictures of the two of us were taken nineteen years apart. We met in 1992; when the first picture was taken I lived in Boulder and was visiting him in his San Francisco apartment. The other picture was taken last summer at Snohomish Skydiving after a jump we made together. It makes me realize that, although I still feel like that fifty-year-old version of me, I'm not there any more. I didn't have ANY gray in my hair, and Smart Guy didn't have a beard, much less a white one. I didn't wear glasses all the time like I do now, and he never went without them until he got cataract surgery. Now he could go without glasses if he didn't feel like seeing things crystal clear when driving. And I can't function without mine, whether driving or not.

It's funny how things evolve so imperceptibly you don't realize how much has changed until you compare then and now. In the first picture we didn't even live together yet, and in the second picture, those two live happily together in Bellingham. It took many years of hard work, talks and tears (mostly mine) to find the happiness that we now share. We hit some rocky shoals and turbulent waters, but today, the contentment that shapes our days could not have been imagined by those two young whippersnappers. Many of my blogging friends have been with their significant others for a lifetime. It took me many fits and starts to find the right person. I thank my lucky stars that I finally did.

I've been retired for almost four years now, and the present structure of my days simply would not allow a forty-hour-a-week job to fit in at all. It seems an impossibility to me that I accomplished so much in a week's time. That also has been an imperceptible change, once we got through the stress and strain of moving from Boulder to Bellingham. Today I worked out in my exercise class and noticed how many of the regulars are now friends of mine. Although we all came from different places, you sweat together a few times a week and before you know it, you're buddies. That's where I met my friend Judy, and we go places that our spouses are not interested in (like the opera). I am one lucky person.

My Thanksgiving will be spent with my guy, with salmon gifted to me from my fisherman friend Gene, some excellent organic delicata squash from the Farmers' Market, and a fabulous shrimp salad I'll whip up tomorrow. Our usual hangout places will be closed, giving the employees a day off, and things will start back up again on Friday. There will be no Senior Trailblazer hike, of course, and I'll sure miss it.

I am sending you, my special blogging friends, sincere wishes that your day will be filled with warmth, family, and blessings. For me, Thanksgiving 2011 gives me a chance to say THANK YOU.
:-)