You might be wondering if you are reading this title and it is coming from me:
No, I did not have another close call with surgery or a hospital situation!
This was much, much better.
Stan, the love of my life, husband of thirty three years, partner and irritant…. sparring partner that keeps me on my toes, was my sole companion for two weeks of bliss: No responsibilities! All we had to do is get up and decide what we were going to do that day.
It was lovely.
We have not done that in twenty five years.
It was so affirming to find out we still know how to kick back and have a grand time together.
We got up when we wanted and dressed as slowly as we wanted and then went out and futzed around until we wanted to go back to the condo.
We saw tons of elk, my mother’s dear Wapiti, and heard them bugle and followed a herd of a hundred of them right down my dad’s beloved nine hole golf course. In his day, there was a coyote that stole all the balls and cached them. Now there are so many elk during the rutting season, golf is just not an option there.
Then we would go into the Rocky Mountain National Park or drive to another community and check it out.
It was really pretty simple.
It doesn’t take much to keep us entertained when there are two of us.
All I can say is: “Stan, you are the sweetest, handsomest, bestest weirdo in the world. And you are my weirdo and we match up like two puzzle pieces with different pieces missing. I don’t know how we were lucky enough to find each other so young and grow up together, but we did.”
And he would probably say, “What? What are you talking about? I can hear you but you don’t make any sense. ”
Because on his planet they don’t burst out with affection or poetry or essays of praise. They just show their love through their actions; by giving of themselves, time and time again, and yet never losing faith that no matter what may come, this marriage is for life and this love we have is for life.
Stan has stood by me and by this family through so many tough times that it is just ridiculous.
In the stormy sea of life, he is the man tied to the wheel making certain we are always steered home.
So, I have learned something here: We should have taken more time away from raising our children (who are now grown),and from being the go to home for all the children who we “adopted” over the years; caring for the elderly in our family, and raising oodles of pets; because even though those were worthy things to do, we lost touch with one another. The gulf that divides our personalities became wider and far less interesting.
But once we were back to just being us, that gulf just became an interesting little peninsula that we could step across, if and when we wanted to. We didn’t have to. After all this time, it turns out we love and appreciate our differences too.
But, we had time to remember all of that. And boy o’ boy but did that help us respect one another and listen to each other more thoroughly.
I need to finish this entry!
I just have not been blogging much. I have a lot of creative projects brewing and then I find I don’t complete any of them.
But this, this is important.
I don’t even have to tell you about the bugling elk (they were amazing).
Or the fact that when we stood by Bierstadt Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park, I could feel the presence of my parents and my aunt, with whom I had stood in that same spot so many times as a child. They were there with us; I felt that fluttering touch and then my heart swelled to overflowing.
Stan said, “you sure carry a lot of ghosts around with you.”
But I don’t mind. That was a perfect time for them to join us.
This was in all ways a perfect trip.
In the last few months at home, at lot has gone on. Our daughter moved out and our son moved back and my niece is back on board for a short while. Our pet ark is full and bulging with four dogs, one cat and an angry bird.
I spent most of the Christmas holidays in the hospital and it wasn’t very nice. Hanukkah was a non starter this year and I have not really recovered health wise and this is almost February; but we are all here.
And Stan, Dr. Reliable, got promoted before the year was out and ran more than 1,000 miles. He is the original marathon man. He does get tired, however, and does a lot more sleeping during the weeks and on the weekends than he used to. I have to let him rest, just when I finally have him back in my clutches.
But it’s all ok.
We are going to return to our mountain retreat again next fall: come hell or high water or indebtedness (not that). When I get really stressed out, I look at homes in the Estes Park area that we can at least afford to rent for a few weeks. It will be a while before we can afford to live up there, but it is a goal.
And goals keep us going when the going gets tough..
Signing off from this epic, long-assed post,
Katie