29 years and Counting

29 years ago today, Houston and I told each other we'd like to grow old together. And we have!

We had a nice little wedding at the mansion on Sugarloaf Mountain

which we could see from the house that we had just bought in Barnesville.

Our ultimate team was called the Janitors at the time, so unbeknownst to us (because our backs were turned to our guests) our team had created an 'arch' with mops. We had an unconventional wedding.

 

We did have a traditional cake though and were very polite about feeding each other.

When Houston met me, I was a hippie with a hippie kid, a single mom and a free spirit.

 

 We actually met because of frisbee. I had Houston's name and phone number because he was the president of the frisbee club at UVA in Charlottesville. I wanted to get together to throw some disc so gave him a call and we got together for an afternoon. Aramin and I were living over an hour away, in the Shenandoah Mountains with some hippie friends who were building a cabin in the woods. Houston and I threw for a couple hours, then I walked out of his life for 6 months. Since I couldn't find a job in the towns of Flint Hill, Little Washington (I had worked for two days at the Inn at Little Washington, but couldn't take Patrick's condescending attitude) and I really missed the frisbee action, we moved on down to Charlottesville. Ultimate frisbee was our life for those years while Houston was finishing up grad school, traveling up and down the east coast playing in tournaments.   

 Houston took a job as a post doc at National Bureau of Standards (NBS, which is now NIST) in Gaithersburg and we moved to Barnesville, where we've been ever since. Since Houston works at GW now, we've stuck around.

I was 24 when I met Houston and of course I didn't know that I would fall in love with him, bear him two more sons and make so many memories with this man.

But Aramin had someone to call Dad, I had someone to call 'Hon' and we started a life together...

 that has included backpaking,

 visiting my parents in South Dakota along the Missouri River,

peering out over the Alps,

skiing in Australia

kayaking in Alaska

accompanying him on his cross country bike trek with Garrett,

standing together on the southern most tip of New Zealand,

taking multiple trips cross country

 

being there for his first flight on a parasail,

and basically being there for each other for the miles and the smiles.

       

 I picked a keeper, with his rugged good looks,

 his fabulous wardrobe,

 his 'Braveheart' period,

 

   and just the way he looks at me (or is it the sun?!)

    

 

 We've done so many reconstruction projects together, it's amazing we are STILL together!

 (wow! who wears short shorts?!)

 For  many, many years, we hosted Halloween parties. Kids, don't try this at home!

We could clean up pretty well though. We used to attend the Scottish Ball in DC.

                                                                          Tom Selleck???

Is that really a mullet?

 But best of all and what I love the most about him is that he is the best husband and dad and family man. The kid raising years went by in a blink of an eyelash and we have all those memories tucked away. All our boys are close by so we get together often. How lucky we are. And how lucky am I that I have my husband  to grow old with. We've actually been together for 35 years, just took us a bit of time to see if it'd 'stick'. So, since he's in England and I'm in Maryland, I'll have to wish him happy anniversary from afar.

All's well that ends well. Here's to another 29 Houston. Loveya!

Moving On

Two of my friends in Cumberland, Piver and Andy have given up their loft space and moved to a 60's rancher a couple miles away from their downtown space. I blogged about their amazing loft here, so you can have an idea of what they gave up (6000 sq. ft.!). To give you a better idea, Piver put together a video of her loft so she could remember it. I'll miss her wacky place, but I've seen her new one in suburbia and she has definitely 'Piverized' it! When driving up, the bubble shower curtains in the front windows give it away.

She's had a few sales to get rid of stuff and I've been back 4 times to peruse and buy and I'll be going back again. There's piles of bike parts...

 hundreds of pounds (millions of pieces!) of jewelry findings. She was a jewelry designer, using cold connection to create awesome pieces of jewelry and sculptures. She's quit the business now and is selling all her supplies.

 games

 bins and bins of parts

 heaps of stuff

I was there for hours and hours and I still haven't seen everything that's there.

 Some of the big pieces (like this huge metal painting done on Ford trunk hood) could not be moved to the rancher.

and the little car trim will stay around the bathroom door.

 sock mannequins anyone?

 She's still deciding on letting this one go. It's one of her first photography pieces. But I do love old trucks, so I'll beg some more.

I did come away with hundreds of letters

 and this awesome desk chair

but my favorite things I think are these old wooden gears. Good luck Piver on moving on.