58 years

Last night I had the pleasure of celebrating my Inlaws 58 years of marriage.  58 years!  In true Melang style, five people turned into ten, luckily we have the planners in our family so there was water, wine, cheese, fruit and crackers.  Thinking about them and knowing them for the over 25 years I've been married, I've noticed a few things:

Marriage is a give and take, just like raising a family.  You pick your battles, and your spouse realizes that when you do pick a battle it usually is something pretty important to you, so they take a second look at it.  And you do the same with the things that are important to them.

A long and happy marriage is a long chain of memories.  It was fun listening to the different memories, watching how they would look at each other for some of them, the important ones.  I was glad I had the pleasure of being there for some of them and see my own marriage as that - a long chain of memories that bind us together.

Marriage is a surrender of self to the both of you.  The longer you stay married the more you become one, that the joining ceremony is only that just a ceremony.  It takes a life time to learn how to live together, and heck, maybe we never fully learn it.

Marriage requires laughter, because like life once you lighten up and learn how to laugh things just get so much easier.  Like the battles, the laughter, sometimes at ones self teaches you that many things pass, the laughter and the memories are what we remember the most.

There is no regret in marriage, because everything that's happened along the lifetime happens for a reason.  A regret you may have is a memory built in someone else's life.

Marriage requires saying you are sorry, and meaning it.  It also requires forgiving, and letting it go.  Easy words to write but some of the hardest things to do.

I am lucky that not only do I get to celebrate 58 years with two very special people, but I feel part of a family that is built upon.  My better half and I have been practicing these traits the better part of 25 years and like his parents hopefully we've got many, many more.

Please oh, please

Please oh, please let me get to them

There are not that far away.

Why do they not fly

Why do they stay?

Don't they see me, the ferocious dog

Hunter of the bird?

Don't they shake on their perches,

Why are they so absurd.

I'll sit here and bide my time,

relaxing as they play,

Knowing the minute that door opens,

Oh happy DAY!

They are MINE to stay!

Weary....

What a great day on the mountain.

This is our morning run - ahead is an historic abandoned silver mine.

With the lift next to us that takes us to the summit.

Snow was great, lots of fresh trax for the morning.

It was hard work, but so much fun

Finally on the long runs back to the middle of town and our condo.

So excited we get to do it again.

Please Mum

She always sits there looking so pathetic.

There are so many squirrels out, getting away.

She gives me that look, lady, why haven't you opened the door for me.

But I know she has to have her walk first,

her poo poo bulletin board, otherwise,

she'll leave me presents.

It's a great exercise for both of us

Consistency

Cold Artwork

I love running on trails on cold mornings.

The only sound is the crunch of my feet as they hit the frozen ground.

Sometimes something stops me in my tracks.

Sometimes it is an animal, a deer, or listening to a woodpecker.

Today it was the design on the ice in a small puddle waiting for the sun.

The lines are straight, but go in all different directions.

The white looks frosty as the day heats up, changing it to water.

Made me think of Snow White - maybe I was the queen,

Looking into the frosty mirror, saying,

"Mirror, Mirror"

What would it reply?

Only in North Carolina

Only in North Carolina can you have a Carolina blue sky

January temperatures hitting 65 degrees

But be standing on the top of a mountain

In a T-shirt

With skis on your feet

Getting ready to go as fast as you can

To the bottom.

Many wait for the perfect time to hit the slopes.

The snow must be powder, the temperature just right

Their outfit matching

But in our household we always say,

Any day on the snow is a great day!

Personal Space-A myth?

My sons do not believe in personal space.  

Part of the reason that they are in school.

They come in immediately from school and are on both sides of me on the couch.

One twirling my hair, the other showing me something strange in his notebook.

I cannot even go to the bathroom a alone.

I'm sitting and pondering the universe

Knock Knock

"Sweetie I'm going to the bathroom."

"But I have to tell you something."

"Can it wait until I am finished in the bathroom."

"No, I have to tell you right now," door opens.

"Really?"  I put down my People magazine.

"Where is my phone?"

Here though, it is cute, he's in my lap, leaning against me.

His hair smells like the ocean.

He's on his computer showing me another game that makes me nauseous,

But I sit and hold him, kissing his cheek as he achieves another level.

Because in this perfect moment

I can.

Is your lap still open?

Le Tour de Laundry

I don't know what I hate more - washing clothes, folding clothes, or putting clothes away.

So my laundry does the Tour de Laundry in different stages around the house.

The First stage - it sits in the washer over night - and doesn't smell like feet.

The Second stage - it moves to the dryer then sits over night or for a few days - my trick, run the dryer with a wet washcloth and the wrinkles are gone.

Stage Three -  folded sitting in the laundry basket, usually in the kitchen for everyone to trip over.

The mountain stage -  pulling the basket upstairs then sitting on the landing.

Stage Five - the guest bedroom, sorted according to person.

Then it stays there until it is dirty again, or like this morning...

My husband comes walking through the house in a towel.....

I yell, "Toga!  Toga!"

He asks,"What stage are we on?  I'm out of underwear."

Do you have the same fun with your laundry?  How long do your stages last?

PS.  for those looking close and asking - yes, it is a Christmas tree in the guest room.  Yes it is January, but we're talking about the stages of laundry, not the stages of Christmas decorations.

Tap Tap Bus

We have a new art teacher at my youngest child's school.

She has brought bright colors, and beautiful pictures to my walls and windows.

I love this picture my son painted-the Tap Tap Bus.

I loved even more how he explained what a Tap Tap Bus is ----

The Tap Tap is a gaily painted bus that runs fixed routes on the streets of Haiti.

Tap Tap means "quick quick"

The bus doesn't leave until it is full and passengers can disembark at any point of the fixed journey.

The US Consulate does not recommend riding a Tap Tap bus as they could be unsafe.

I am glad that he was not  quick quick with this piece of art,

Because it is a keeper.