Celebration-5/60/261

Five years/Sixty months/Two hundred sixty-one weeks since the wonderful afternoon that James and I gathered with F/friends and family to make our commitment to each other, and we're even more certain now than we were that afternoon!

It is wonderful to have found this man to be my love, my partner, and my best friend. I do so appreciate the relationship and life we are building together, and it was fun to hear my mom comment on it when I talked to her this afternoon.

I'll get pictures and news of other happenings up tomorrow, but wanted to post a quick acknowledgment of this wonderful day tonight.

(And how have we spent our anniversary? Well, I've had both orthodontic and dental appointments in the last two days, so my mouth is tender, so we had a simple -soft!-supper and watched the tape of today's Tour de France race segment, then took Torri and her friend Alex to get free little slurpees from 7-11.)

Where have I been???

Actually, I have been traveling-to Hungary to visit Liza, and then to Vienna, Prague, Kalocsa, and Budapest with her. I'll tuck in pictures and thoughts from my travel experiences through the next few days. I've been back a week (last night) and finally feel like I'm catching up with projects that got set aside while I was preparing for the trip, and then gone.

I've learned some interesting things about myself through this, to include:
1) I am NOT a city girl! I don't know how I ended up with two daughters who love the hustle and bustle so much, but I'm going to leave cities to them! I need my regular fix of trees and bird song and space.
2) I am fine for about a week of traveling, and after that I've got to get home. Part of that is the "nothing meaningful to show for all this time" aspect of sightseeing day after day. Part of it is missing my partner in life, my own bed, and my own dirt in the garden.
3) I care much more about making connections with people than I do about admiring architecture. And it's definitely easier to make connections when we have a shared language, even if it's a second language for one or both.
4) I'm outgrowing collecting "things" as mementos of my trip. I was even challenged finding meaningful gifts to being home for my people who didn't go with me.
5) I can eat dairy and still function (walk, especially), but I feel much better on our plant-based diet we eat here!

It's great to be home!!!!!!!
I really appreciated James staying home and tending to everything here, so I didn't have any of those worries/concerns weighing on me. And you should see all the projects he got finished without me to distract him or change things mid-stream! (I'll do a garden report in a bit.) But best of all is just being home to share ideas and connections.

The time with the twins, without me, did bring them closer together, and made a shift in their relationship that has continued even after my return.
At the same time, the time with just Liza was a special treat. Even if we were both satisfied with our time together by the time it was drawing to a close, and ready to get back to our lives (me-family & gardening, Liza-speaking Hungarian), the experience of extended time together and sharing experiences just the two of us was priceless! James, thank you from both of us for making that possible!!!