Since my posts here on Pepper Medley have been sparse as of late, I thought I would do a valentine's day post a day early.
It's a post about our life as a couple since 1997.... that's 19 years.
Not all of them have been in wedded bliss, in fact after meeting one another on an internet dating website, dating for a few weeks and then moving into his home, we lived together for ten years before tying the knot known as 'marriage.
Week-ends were spent with quick trips to Sedona, hiking, shopping the strange little shops, and practicing photography... along with getting to know one another VERY well via lots of hand holding and tons of mad sex like bunnies. LOL
Later that same year we decided to sell his home, (his idea, not mine) and build a new house just a bit further west in the Valley.... Goodyear, AZ, it was a little closer to his job and a little further from mine, but the time seemed right to sell the house that he had been in for numerous years and raised his children in, who were now on their own in life. It was time to get out of the neighborhood that now seemed to be sliding downhill, and he was also ready to put a few memories behind him and start a fresh life with me.
We had fun selecting the builder, the new neighborhood, a great floor plan, the flooring, cabinets, countertops, and making all of the stressful decisions that come when deciding to go with a 'new construction' home.
We had a blast!
Two years later we headed East... Maryland to be exact, and although I cried, sobbed, and was completely unsure about moving all the way across the U.S. with a man I loved, but was not yet married to, I pulled up my big girl panties and hit the road with him on a fresh chapter in life.
The East Coast was a HUGE adjustment for me, since I had lived in Arizona for nearly twenty years.... how would I ever handle going back to frigid winters which I had not experienced since childhood... and he had been away from Indiana winters for nearly twenty years as well.
It would be the 'thermal long john underwear' years of our life.
Now, it wasn't an easy adjustment for me.... no indeed, but after a year or two Maryland had become home. great neighbors, in an area that wrapped it's arms around us and accepted us into the fold of the neighborhood with camaraderie galore. I never ever wanted to pick up and move again.... but in life there are just so many things we don't have control over.... and then it happened.
In 2003, the company he worked for began laying people off, and by early 2004 the final employees were sent packing to find other jobs. None seemed to be coming his way, so it was back to Arizona where his previous employer had asked him to come back.
BACK TO ARIZONA?
I was elated and he was not.
The forever long and hellish hot summers would once again be upon us. Something I could deal with, but he could not, and he vowed that once he again found a position on the East Coast... or anywhere with a a four season lifestyle, that we would once again leave the Southwestern part of the U.S. And so it was that I did not get attached to living in Arizona this time around.
Speaking of not getting attached? Probably a good thing, since our stint in Arizona only lasted from 2004 until mid year 2007, which is when we decided to move to Roanoke, Virginia.
Move much, you ask?
Why yes... we do!
My guy had accepted another engineering position working for G.E., and before he left for Virginia he asked me to marry him.... I hemmed and hawed, accepted his proposal, and within a matter of a few weeks arrangements were made, and I flew from Arizona to Virginia with my wedding dress and his black suit and tie in hand, and we were married at a lovely mountaintop elopement location, with a small private cabin in which we spent our honeymoon week-end.
This autumn we will have been in Virginia for nine years.... the longest we have been in one state as a couple, although not in the same house.
I guess we get bored being in the same house for too long.
*that's him up above.... plotting where we will move to next*
So here we are nineteen years later.
Still in love.
Still confused about where we'll go next. but knowing that wherever it is
we'll still be together in the autumn and winter years of our life
wearing thermal long john underwear if necessary.....
Wishing everyone a Valentine week-end filled with warmth as well as the knowledge that someone loves you dearly, whether that be a spouse, a significant other, your child, or a wonderful neighbor.
Think pink and red.
Think and exude love.
Make the world a better place this week-end and always.
Happy Valentine's Day!
