Leaving for vacation and I notice the headlight is out on his car.  No problem we’ll just go over to the dealership and have them install a new one.

2 hours later and an estimate of $340 for a new headlight and I realize a new question to ask before we buy a new car.  Like how much are lights to replace along with a few more concerning maintenance pricing.  Still have 1 payment left on the car and the headlight is more than the car payment. Now I know why they increased the mileage on the bumper to bumper warranties on new cars. Just put in a new battery yesterday for $189.  And now a headlight.  This could really sink a beach vacation if it weren’t already prepaid.

Guess the dealership thought they had us.  We made a call and drove 4 hours into our vacation and stopped at our daughters home.  Called the dealer in her town and got the headlamp installed at this dealership for half the price.  Still a lot, in my opinions, but better than the original estimate.

My dad always told me a car is not an investment.  It’s nothing but an expense. As usual his words always prove true. My retired HUBBY always asks if he has filled my dad’s shoes yet and examples like this and reiterating my dad’s words make him think no, not yet.  I never tell him my dad only wore a size nine shoe and he wore a size 10 1/2  when I met him 55 years ago.  In my eyes both of these men are the absolute best. And I’m sure their sons and grandsons will follow in their shoes.

Today is one of those days.  I miss her guidance I miss her love but most of all I miss her hugs.  It’s been a year today since she’s been gone to be with her David and her John.

I’ve packed my retired groom for years. Otherwise, he would have never made his scheduled flights.  Overnights, 2 weeks in China, no problem.  But since he retired he has taken over his packing.  Oh boy.  The outfits and the shoes that he just can’t go without make it hard for me to find a place to sit, both in our car or the limo to the airport.

I for one am glad for the luggage fees on planes.  First it makes us fly Southwest my favorite airlines..(2 bags fly free).  And second it makes him limit his wardrobe.

Before the fees, 3 bags plus golf clubs were the norm for him.  Me- one bag plus my carry on tote.  There was always a bag for his shoes.  My guy loves clothes.

Now, I try to list the clothes we need by day and try to explain color coordination so 1 pair of shoes can go with many outfits. As much as I try to monitor his packing we’ve had to take clothes and shoes out of bags and redistribute the weight so as not to be charged the overweight fee at the check-in counter. Although my guy isn’t unique as I’ve seen many people doing this same act of redistibution every time we fly.

Driving is another problem altogether.  He manages to bury more items as he packs the car.  But once we get on the road and I can calm down from the overpacking we always have a great time whether it’s a short jaunt or an extended sightseeing journey.  My retired groom is always ready to show me new sights and great places. But we always come back home with way more clothes then he could ever wear and he swears he is never packing so much again. Yeah, heard that before.

My guy loves to vacuum.  Me . . . not so much.

After spending time with his mom and her new vacuum he was on a search for the red Shark.   Now that we own it he loves to run it.

Like the lawnmower the vacuum has hours of operation.  Not before 9 am and it’s curfew is 8 pm.  It picks up wonderfully in fact it sucks up everything in its path. Funny how retirement has changed our roles and priorities.

This idea just makes me laugh.  The kids always thought their dad had some type of monitored on me because he could always track me down.

Yesterday I went shopping and because I walk with my hands in my pocket or push a cart, my fitbit didn’t pick up my steps. My retired groom suggested I put the fitbit on my ankle (see the picture below).  So I did. It is now picking up all my steps.  Today I’m doing laundry and since carrying baskets up and down steps tend to keep my arms stationary I usually don’t get my steps all counted. Now, with the fitbit on my ankle all my steps are being tracked.

Sometimes my retired groom has great ideas.  But I wonder what people might think when I start wearing Capri pants and sandals and the fitbit shows.  They could think I’m a criminal on the loose, or in my case just a retired bride being tracked by her retired groom.   LOL.

When we retired we made a bucket list which included going to D.C. to see the Cherry Blossoms in March. Somehow for the past 6 years they have bloomed without us being there.

I can’t believe how quickly time flies when you’re not working and everyday is like a Saturday.  We need to readjust our list as the blooms will be on there way out for 2017.

Hope this retired married couple complete the list before we kick the bucket.

When is this Madness going to be over?

The only positive thing about March Madness tonight is getting carry out at Noodles and Company.  Ok, his retired bride is happy now, so I’m watching Oregon and Kansas playing for the next bracket.  But really I’m playing Candy Crush on my phone.  Shhhhhh don’t tell.

NO-Not the prom. The month of March has college play-off games called March Madness. I would think when your team loses you’re out. Guess not. Bracketology then takes over.  So its Friday night and the retired groom can hardly keep his eyes opened but there’s another game that will fill another bracket. He can’t understand why when everyone is watching who is going to be at the big dance I would want to go to bed.

I explain, its like when we’re at a wedding and the band is in full swing and my dancing shoes are on and ready to go, he says its late, let’s get going. His feet hurt and I say just mosey over to the bar and soak your feet with a couple of drinks. If he can walk 18 holes of golf then a few dances should be easy. He asks how many and I say 2 fast dances and 2 slow unless the electric slide comes up, then that one too. We make it through 2 fast and one slow, and then we do the stroll out to the car. We just aren’t sock-hoppers anymore.

I’m not sure how in this past presidential election, a husband and wife holding opposite views could make very happy bedfellows.  This election has encompassed many issues that have grabbed many by their core.  Their christian values, their feminine views, their racial opinions not to mention the worries of health care and unemployment.

Through this distasteful and upsetting battle of candidates and platforms, I realized that my mother’s words, “the more you have in common the easier the marriage will be,” proved so true to me.

Falling in love doesn’t always find the easiest path but sharing the same faith and following the Greatest Commandments of loving God and Your Neighbor as Yourself have proved to be a great foundation in this marriage.

I can see the sadness in his eyes as he watches the news today about an American man being killed and his wife injured on their 25th wedding anniversary trip to England.  His sadness is twofold.   His heart is aching for the woman who just lost the love of her life and the fear that it has stirred up for the country.  He also sees the determination in my eyes as I again become resolute about never traveling abroad.

My retired groom has traveled all over the world for his job. He wants to show me the Great Wall of China, the Effel Tower, the Changing of the Guards at the Buckingham Palace, and of course Hungary, Poland and Ireland the birthplace of our grandparents.  These terrorist attacks just deepen my feelings that I’m only interested in seeing sights in the land of my birth even though 9/11, has made me realize that no one is safe from those who don’t value life, not even their own.

Our other impediments to traveling are: trains, planes and automobiles not to mention boats.  I don’t want to fly over water and my retired groom doesn’t like the idea of floating with a motor on ocean waves.  I don’t understand how a tube with wings, weighing tons, with me inside can stay in the air and he sees every cruise ship as another Titanic.  So until we can come to some understanding  we will be sightseeing in the land of our birth by way of the trusty wheel.  Although we aren’t looking forward to seeing Trump’s Wall.

Who would think a new electronic gizmo could make 2 people laugh and enjoy a late evening so much?

Let me begin by explaining that I bought the Echo Dot, after seeing the advertisements on TV.  Got it home and we all had fun with it over Christmas.

But like all new gadgets it has sat on the shelf with little use since the holidays. Then I realized I could listen to audio books on it so up to our bedroom it went.

Last night as I told Alexa (the voice of Echo Dot) to wake me at 8 am and to play ocean sounds until I fell asleep, my husband enter the room and decided to have Echo play music.  For the next two hours we went from DooWhop through the 50s, 60s, 70s and then continued to reexamine our memories of Music Appreciation Classes with The Grand Canyon Suite, the Painted Desert to Peter and The Wolfe.  Our toes were dancing on the sheets and our voices were singing along to all our high school love songs.

Even this late in our years my retired groom manages to show me a fun date night.  It didn’t cost a cent and there was no need to worry about what to wear or even put on make up.  Oh yeah, he did run down stairs to get some wine.

Unexpected date nights seem to be the norm as these retired grandparents look forward to retiring to bed earlier and earlier these days.

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