Beatrice and I begin our mornings with ether breakfast cereal or instant oatmeal. Beatrice does not share in the hot or cold cereal. Instead,
as I eat, I slip her (usually by a balance-on-knee) little tiny dog milk bones, 5 calories each. Then she gets her medicines, put into a pill pocket package that she loves. Then she gets a dog treat, provided that she sits on command.
Usually, my wife sleeps in a bit during these wee hours. Today she had to get up early for a work meeting. She headed out at 7 to get to the office. She is a technical writer. She loves her work and her employer.
After she left, I pulled up the drawing program Inkscape and created a 27th anniversary card. This made sense because today is our 27th Anniversary. I lack significant drawing skills. I had enough non-mad skillz, though, to design a nice card. I sent the result to Walgreens.com to print up. Then I spread the wild bird seed. Later, I saw a rabbit and four House Sparrows eating the seed. I picked up the card on the way to work.
We married on a rainy day in 1990. I remember the grass outside the church was very green. The floral arrangement inside the church was also very green. My wife's step-mother, a good egg with a good eye, worked with the florist to get a nice look. The processional for the wedding was Purcell's Trumpet Tune. I liked all the people in Mission Hills, a Kansas-side suburb of Kansas City.
Many family members who came to that wedding are no longer alive. Some grew old and passed away. Some died too young. One died much too young. I remember them all, and eating breakfast with people who no longer are among us at a suites-type place called the Quarterage Inn. My family tends to be low-key, book-ish, down-to-earth, and not that far removed from small towns. Some, like my sister, are
a bit more colorful
We spent our wedding night in an historic hotel called the Raphael. The next morning, we flew to Nassau in the Bahamas for a wonderful week in the Bahamas. We loved to snorkel. We still do love to snorkel. We loved using the little dollar jitney buses. We loved the meals of peas 'n' rice, conch and fresh fish with fresh fruit.
In a snorkel cove for the Pirate's Cove resort, my new wedding ring fell off. it got replaced under warranty by a credit card company. Right now I need a new wedding ring, as my finger got too small for my ring. It fell off during a trip to DC last year.
It's hard to believe that 27 years elapsed since that lovely wedding. We moved to Los Angeles for a decade. Then we moved back 17 years ago. We have had a really good life--and I am grateful for it.
This evening was low-key. We plan to celebrate in the coming days. The flowers I sent did not get to her office in time. They will arrive at home tomorrow morning. The burst of warm weather has Beatrice shedding her fur--no mean feat for a very short-haired dog. The rain never fell today.
We walked with Beatrice near the pond. We got sandwiches. We settled in for an early evening-- and the next thing.
(cross-posted to DW because life is silly)