A Week Late & Several Dollars Short....

Wow--I guess I should blog about my ANNIVERSARY! I am late on this one, Folks--my bad. I HAVE been thinking of what I wanted to say, though, so that's PART of my excuse! :p Well, that and I am outta some of my psycho-trophic meds right now--LOL.

Mr Ralph and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on 7/19 as you probably know. We put off our actual CELEBRATION until Saturday 7/23/05. Every year when our anniversary rolls around, I always think back to our wedding day. 118F in Yuma, AZ, on that sweltering July afternoon. Me, 2 months pregnant & green -I didn't have "morning" sickness--I had "ALL DAY sickness" when I was preggo with Bayleigh. Ralph, slightly distracted and a bit nervous to be entering into marriage #2. That's one of those days that will live in my memory long after there's no room for anything else.

I got off work early, he got us one of two MEGA-suites @ the Marriott where he works (Oh my GAWD--I am SOO getting a 6' long Jacuzzi tub when we get our house!!). One of the guys he works with bought us dinner @ this restaurant across the street called “Bin 239”—it’s a “wine café”—it’s SO NICE! They have a basic menu of sandwiches, salads, appetizers (cheese, fruit, canapés, etc) and wood-fired pizzas and an EXTENSIVE wine list. We had a champagne toast and then with my Mediterranean chicken salad, I had a glass of Johannesburg Riesling-my absolute FAVORITE white! It was a nice intimate atmosphere, although it WAS a little noisy because they were HOPPIN’! But it was good and very sweet of his co-worker, Terry, to do that for us!

Then we met our friends Roy and Toni at this new Irish pub they opened in the historic district down town on Whiskey Row called "O'Hooligan's", and we listened to a good jazz band & had a few drinks. Then we relocated to another club on Whiskey Row and listened to a blues band that Roy & Ralph were calling "The Mole Man Band" because the drummer looked like he just crawled out of the ground, squinty eyes & all. Roy works with Ralph also, and he and his wife Toni call themselves “baby boomers,” although they’ve GOT to be in the group right @ the tail-end of all that; I hope that Ralph and I look THAT GOOD when we’re in our late 40s/early 50s!

Then, after “clubbing”, we went back to the hotel and went and sat in the Jacuzzi & went swimming for about half an hour…we talked and reminisced; there really has been more GOOD times than bad in 8 years of marriage and 11 years TOTAL together…then we went back to the room, and I won’t bother with the details of the REST of the night….but it was nice to be alone and have a special night with Ralph. It was worth putting off "our day" for 4 days in order to have a nice all-evening celebration with him & our friends!

It doesn’t seem like we’ve been together 8 years already. We’ve truly grown together, although I am still trying to get him to see things my way in that, after my ordeal with cancer, my life’s priorities have shifted and things like money are not as important to me as raising 2 well-adjusted and educated children to release into society. For me, it’s now “the little things” that I take pleasure in ;)

Blogging just HAPPENS to be ONE of them! :)