40th Anniversary decision

http://sitwithmeundermymagnoliatree.blogspot.com/

Mr. Man and I will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary next month.  For months we've been thinking about how we should celebrate.  After all, forty years is a long time not to kill somebody! :)
And, you know it's true! Don't give me that shocked look.  Every wife and every husband has thought at least once, I am going to kill that man/woman! ;)   Knowing you never would, but MAN they can drive you NUTS!
SO, having not killed each other in 40 years, we figure we should celebrate!! We are hoping and praying for 50....and it's doubtful we'll kill each other from here on out, we're just too old to care and too old to run.   If another woman wanted him, she could have him, he's all used up, I've had the best years of his life....she can have the ailments and alzheimers years! LOL  I'm just kidding, of course!  I can't imagine my life without that man.  I really can't.

  And, nowadays, old age is making our lives a little easier.  We're both a little forgetful, which amazingly stops a lot of arguments!  If we disagree about whether one of us told the other something, there's no argument.  Because I may NOT have told him what I THOUGHT I told him or he may not REMEMBER what I told him. and vice versa.  We both know we're forgetful, so...  Nothing to fight about.  I'm not saying we don't aggravate each other every now and then, but we get along well, know each other, love each other, are best friends.  Aw, aren't we sweet? Haha.

BACK to the anniversary celebration.  We thought of so many places,(Niagara Falls, California, Hawaii, Utah, the Grand Canyon) but like most people these days, we have limited funds.  Actually, we could use these funds for working on the house or paying off a bill.  But, we are throwing caution to the wind and using it for....a.....CRUISE!  We've never been on one before and are SO excited and nervous!!  We're going on a seven day cruise to the Caribbean.  How exciting!!  We did spring for a cabin with a balcony so I wouldn't feel too claustrophic.  We've been looking online at the cabins and realize it's still going to be quite tight in the room, but at least we can get out in the fress air on the balcony!  The travel guide at vacationstogo.com was so kind to help us out and put us on the port side with the ocean view balcony so that we can see the ports as we pull in to them. :)  Have I mentioned that we're excited??

So, this is a cruise on a shoestring budget!  There are two formal dinner nights on this cruise...and I had no formal wear.  A friend told me about a thrift store in town that has formals from time to time.  I went yesterday and found a beautiful royal blue formal dress that fit ME and it was $14.99!!  Can you believe it??  And I bought a cute orange leather Preston and York purse for $8.99.  No, the purse isn't for the dress. :)

Now, I'm looking for earrings and shoes to go with the dress and for things like binoculars, backpack, etc..  A few light weight blouses for me and shirts for Mr. Man.  I'm being frugal because there are plenty of extra expenses on a cruise, I see!  The excursions alone can be in the thousands!!  I chose one excursion at each port with a total of around $400.  And, those are the cheap excursions.  But, the entertainment onboard the ship is free and I've got all of those booked, the food is free unless we eat in one of the restaurants that isn't part of the plan.  We won't.

All we want is to make it about US and our love for each other.  I want Mark to have a wonderful time.  He works so hard and is so ready to retire, but can't for a few years.  So, if he gets rested on this trip, feels loved and encouraged, then it will be worth every penny.

Because when it comes down to it, the kids grow up and get on with their lives...as they should!...and our parents have all gone to be with Jesus....friends have their own lives to live..so it's really all about the two of us now.  And we need to make it the best it can be!  We thank God for our marriage(and for not killing each other years ago!!)
Blessings!

Mr. Man

Mr. Man

Mr. Man and I have been married for 39 years 10 months 6 days 1 hr.   That's almost twice as long as I was single.  Life without him is unimaginable, although there have been a few days that I thought about taking him out myself!! ;)  Marriage is definitely not the easiest thing I've ever done, second only to raising children.   We raised six.  One daughter Mr. Man brought into the marriage, one daughter I brought into the marriage, three sons together, and our oldest grandson.  So, we raised kids for the first 36 years of our marriage. Now they're all grown, on their own, and doing well.

The first year we were alone (our children all relocated to different states, our grandson was in the Air Force, and my mother had passed away) was a little hard at first.  So I declared it the year of Mark and Mary..that's Mr. Man's name: Mark.  We decided to do things we hadn't done in our first 36 years of marriage...like go on a vacation alone!  We went to Amelia Island, Florida first.  It's a little town on the Atlantic Ocean where we rode our bikes, went on a dolphin cruise, window shopped, and ate.  We saw an island of wild horses, watched them feed near the shoreline.  They are beautiful creatures and are left totally alone.  No one cares for them and they seem happy...I mean I didn't see them smile, but from what I saw they looked good!

We went to Disney World, just the two of us.  Epcot was our first stop and our first time at that particular park. We thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was so beautifully decorated with flowers of every kind.  We strolled through the different countries.  Mr. Man is also known as Mr. Picky Pants.  He is absolutely the pickiest eater I've ever seen.  While I would have stopped to eat at every country that was represented at Epcot, he would only eat in Italy(spaghetti), Ireland(fish and chips), and France(pastry).  He was kind enough to stop with me in China while I enjoyed a bowl of noodles. Yum.  I like to experience different foods, different cultures..but there are some even I won't try.  For example, while in Indonesia(the real country, not Epcot) there were chunks of snake on the buffet lineup.  I did NOT try the snake. ewwwwwwwwwwww! ewww! 

On our second day at Disney World, we went to Magic Kingdom.  Oh dear.  I was on summer vacation from my work in the school system and though I love kids, I did NOT want to spend the whole day amongst thousands of little princesses and Buzz Lightyears.  Eeeeeek!  We maneuvered through them and around to a few things that interested us, then found a place to park ourselves until the night time parade and fireworks.  That was well worth the wait.  It's amazing to see the castle change designs and colors!!  How DO they do that?

The third day of our three day park pass, we went back to Epcot. :)  We rode Soaring.  It's kind of like you're flying on a kite.  I couldn't look the first time we did it because I'm afraid of heights and it felt like we were wayyy up there!  The second time, I was fine and enjoyed it a lot!

That year we also went to Sevierville, Tennessee.  We rented a log cabin for a few days, drove through the mountains, spotted a black bear(he was more scared of the people than the people were of him), climbed through still snowy mountain trails, went to a dinner show, a breakfast show, through caves, sat on the front porch and just rocked.  It was lovely!!!

One other place we visited that year was Callaway Gardens in Georgia.  How gorgeous.  We've been back a couple of times since then.  The gardens are amazing!!!  On one trip, our daughter-in-law brought the grandkids to see us and we all enjoyed the man-made beach and the lake with the water battle boats.  We soaked each other and laughed til we cried.  Mr. Man and I also rode bikes on the trail.  I learned that I do downhill best. : )

I think that pretty much describes the year of Mark and Mary.  We can't afford to do that every year, but we sure enjoyed that year.  We still do 99% of everything together. For example, building an addition to our front porch, painting, planting, fixing.  We've spent many holidays working on this old house.  It's our home..not perfect, but ours and we're very thankful to have it.

Mr. Man is enjoying an afternoon snack...he's still hurting from his water skiing incident last weekend, poor thing.  He managed to attend church with me this morning, but his torn hamstring made the pew very uncomfortable for him. I'm hoping he feels better soon because I love him(and because he's such a big baby when he's hurt!)  I'm just glad we're still together and fairly healthy after so many years.  I hope we have at least twenty more good, healthy years!

Maybe you can offer suggestions for our 40th anniversary?  Where should we go? Hmm?