An occasion to celebrate

On the day after Thanksgiving, fifty years ago this Friday, Bob and I exchanged our wedding vows. Tonight our family took us out for pizza, ice cream, and gift giving. They presented us with a "mystery package", a big beautifully wrapped box filled with little packages and clever rhyming clues that we had to decipher to discover our anniversary gift: a family weekend at a very special resort. We will go in July, so that gives us plenty of time to savor the plans. Shall it be a day at the spa? An afternoon of fly fishing? Horseback riding? A beginner's lesson in falconry? The choices are plentiful and all wonderful.

In the picture I linked to this blip, you can see my husband in the back, with daughter #2 and her husband, and daughter #3 on the right side of the table. On the left side are our two youngest grandchildren, the ones who live here in our hometown, and our oldest granddaughter who flew in yesterday from Los Angeles. Daughter #1 and her family couldn't make the trip in from Arizona to enjoy the occasion with us, and the oldest grandson is off in the U.S. Army for a few more months. These days it is nearly impossible to get everyone together in the same state at the same time. (Oh, and those three well-known characters pictured on the back wall are not family members, they're just part of the decor.)

That's it for this extraordinary night in the northeast corner of Ohio. Our "real" anniversary is still three days away, and we will be out of town, celebrating in Williamsburg, Virginia, so I thought I would share this special family time with my Blip friends tonight. Now I'm off to bed. 'Night friends!