The Journey

Last Sunday, around 4:00, Jon and I headed out of town on a little getaway. The trip came up totally unexpectedly and we grabbed the opportunity and held on with all of our might.

Jon was in the Navy for most of our dating life and after we got married, we were both working and I was in college doing coursework and clinical rotations. While I was still in college, we had our first baby. Our time together, without children, was practically non-existent. Oh sure, we had a honeymoon, but quite frankly, we just didn't like each other back then. I hated the things that Jon loved and we said horrible things to each other. Our entire honeymoon was spent trying to get time alone, away from each other.

Even now it hurts to openly admit that.

But this trip, this spontaneous getaway, this second chance at a honeymoon, was a gift. It was a gift from my friend's parents, who at the last minute discovered that they were unable to use their timeshare which was about to expire. It was a gift from my friends, who all pitched in to watch three crazy boys so we could go alone. It was a gift of time for us. Four days of uninterrupted, uncluttered time.

We had never had that much time together, just the two of us.

There's just something about the sight of my husband's wedding ring on his hand that makes my heart go pitter patter. Put it together with strumming and oh my, my, my...

Yeah, we did lots of this. Nice. Very nice.
Those would be the I-so-freakin-adore-you-eyes. And no, that is not Saddam Hussein on his shirt, as commonly thought. It is the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.
It snowed about an inch or so. The whole city shut down. I think the snow memory is my favorite, so I will share it. We were heading back up the mountain to our resort. All of the restaurants and stores had long since closed. When we got to the bottom of the mountain, there was a long line of cars stopped. Off to our left was another line of cars stopped and those people were all standing outside their cars. At first we thought that someone was stuck or that we were waiting for the snow plow to make it up the mountain, but eventually we learned that everyone had given up and was now floundering for ideas on how to make it to their rooms. Two men standing by Jon's window took one look at us (yeah, so we were in a minivan, so what?) and sneered to Jon, "You ain't goin' nowhere so you might as well just sit tight." I didn't even need to look at Jon to see what he would do, I already knew it. Oh yeah, we went and oh yeah, we made it. Is it wrong to want to go all the way back down the mountain just to see that face with the egg all over it??
Um, I seem to have not quite grasped the concept of crisp pictures yet on this camera, but that is not the point. The point of this picture is that this is us on January 19, which just happens to have been the day we met 18 years ago. We had buffalo wings on that first day and we had wings again this year. It was during the Gulf War and Jon was on leave. Great timing, eh?

You know you're a coffee snob when the french press, spring water, and Roger's fresh-roasted coffee beans accompany you on a vacation.
Do you know what I spent a lot of time doing on vacation? Doing my hair, putting on makeup, taking baths. Do you know why? Because I am a girl, that's why. I made Jon wait a long time (well, okay, not long, but longer than usual) when we were going on a date. Do you know what else? He didn't mind. In fact, he loved waiting on me.

Why are we taking pictures of ourselves in Wal-Mart? I do not know, but it was fun. Wal-Mart on vacation is more fun than Wal-Mart in Lawrenceburg. Go figure.

The time together, the beautiful chunk of time together, was an amazing gift. I can't wait to do it again.