Anniversary Time

Coming up in a couple of days is our wedding anniversary. It's actually our 11th but ... we did have that year or so apart there so, is it really the 10th?? Come the end of the month we will have been back together for a year once again. Man, time flies!! What else - it's about 15 years right now since we first paired up, started going out together and within a couple of months we were living together.

We share our anniversary date with my eldest brother and his wife. For them this will mark 40 years which seems incredible to me - I remember that day like it was yesterday. High school sweethearts who remain deeply in love to this day.

Our middle brother and his wife mark theirs next week and I think they're up to 33 years.

Lemme see - if I add my 3 marriages together: 8 + 2 + 11.... nope, don't even come close. Too many years alone in between.

Anyway, bottom-line. I'm very happy and grateful that Lynda and I were able to work through our 'stuff' in order to reunite and live once again as a married couple. She's a wonderful woman. If I had one wish it would be that we could spend more time together.

Just for the heck of it here is a link to a post I did which includes my favourite picture of the two of us: http://constantchangeisthenorm.blogspot.com/2007/08/fun-stuff.html



*Sue tells me the link 'aint workin'** Let's try this instead.
** Re-edited - the link ought to work now.... 4/04/09

Randomness

There are a couple of you folks out there that I had promised emails replies to by now. Sorry, but with this cold and little sleep my brain is mush. Soon...... promise.

I entered a CBC Radio 2 contest to see Leonard Cohen in New York. If I win I'll be wishing I hadn't procrastinated so much about renewing my passport because I can't fly into the U.S. without one. I'd crawl the 500 miles to see this show after the reviews I've seen from this tour. Winners will be announced Monday.

Had my first wife Vicki and I stayed together, yesterday, St Patrick's Day would have been our 30th anniversary. Before I left work I sent her an email greeting to mark the day and wishing her well. By the time I got up a few hours later she had replied complete with a scanned newspaper clipping from last years celebration of St Paddy's showing her toasting the camera with a pint of stout. Cheers to Big Red! She's coming to town later this month so Lynda and I might have her over for dinner. Depends on her schedule.

Lynda headed into Toronto earlier this evening with a few girlfriends to see the stage production of 'Jersey Boys'. News to follow.

I've been reading through some published reports about the correlation between addiction and those diagnosed with ADHD. Scary stats at 3 times the rate for 'normal' populations.

Slow Motion Man

By the time I got home this morning I had been up for 21 hours and surprisingly felt pretty good. I had gone through a tired stage through the night and that was why when I posted I kept it on the short side and to the point - a bare bones account of the weekend. It seems that tonight is when I'm paying the price. The dogs had me awake around mid-day and I've been up and around ever since. Ever feel like you're slogging along wearing a heavy damp cloak long after your energy has run out?? That is me tonight on 4 or 5 hours sleep. During the day I kept busy with household stuff - laundry, dusting and vacuuming, and cooking - and managed to get away from the house to make it to work a bit early.

Primarily for our youngest dogs benefit (Milo), Lynda and I have adjusted our work schedules so he is well tended to. We had a talk tonight and decided we've done this long enough, he is grown enough that this shouldn't continue to be necessary. So, at long last she and I will have some common time at home instead of an hour here and there spotted through the week. Hallelujah!! Lynda will go back to her regular day shift and occasional rotation into a week of afternoon shift instead of every other week. We will enjoy having the chance to actually go out and do things together again.

We haven't had any sun since getting that dumping of new snow but I did get a couple of pictures that could be alright to post. There also hasn't been a breath of wind so everything has an 8 to 12 inch hat of pristine snow atop. Looks pretty damned cool. Really must get back into posting photos on a regular basis again - there's a worthy goal.

Today marks 6 years since Lynda quit smoking; or 2192 days.... and she has never looked back. Doesn't miss it and has no cravings. Pretty remarkable since she went along with my sister and I to the hypnotherapist not really intending a serious quit attempt. Right time; right place; right outcome. Sister Linda is coming up on a year soon via a different method. I'm back pretty well where I started; smoking daily but not as heavily as before.

Let The Trumpets Blare

I knew this was coming up and only just thought to check; I like to observe these little milestones.

Ta-Da-Dah-Dahhhh!!!!

Today marks 2,000 days sober under grace and via a miracle. If I can, anyone can.

Okay, all better now..... back to regular blogging.

But I'll leave you with this - The Serenity Prayer. A.A. meetings are commonly opened with the recitation of the first four lines.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

There were days early on when I thought I would wear out this little ditty. It got me through some tough times.

Upcoming Blog Birthday

Come Monday it will have been two full years since I started this gig - amazing! It came about by stumbling on some folks blogsites and beginning to follow them through their posts. After a couple of months of that I came to the conclusion that hey! I can get in on this too. Away I went.... and here I am.

Along the way I've posted some opinion pieces about the things I care about - a bit about recovery, a fair lot about music and more recently books. (There has also been quite a lot of straight-up day-to-day news that I'm sure is probably pretty boring for some but it keeps me occupied.) I was helped through some difficult times by blog friends - mainly regarding Lynda's and my break-up, time apart and reunion. Good times too - with our grandson Owen and the births of my kid's kids, Zeph and Madison. Through these things I've been fortunate to have made some damned decent friends and I feel fortunate to be a part of this ever growing on-line community. (Seems I've made another friend this week in Martin at hstbooks.com. Hello Ireland!!) You all mean a lot to me and on those occasions where I felt I could be of help, I've tried to be. Lord knows you've helped me.

I never fail to be amazed at the number and variety of talented people 'out there' offering up their work in words, photos and artwork. That and the appreciation, support and encouragement that flies back and forth between parties. Awesome. Maybe I'll dig through my archives to see what all is in there. Whenever I do that I always come across something I had forgotten about ever having written..... surprise, surprise. (Senior's moments already.)

And for anyone interested I'm having my last intended cigarettes tonight - I'm going to try and lay them down for good again. See, one thing I've hated about smoking for the last few years is having to smoke outside in cold weather. I was just outside for one and I bet it is down to 0C/32F out there - freezing!! One more motivating factor, by geez. Wish me luck. BTW - it is a beautiful still clear night. The stars are shimmering like diamond dust on blue-black velvet.

Good Weekend

Last night I hit a meeting with a sponsee, went for coffee and a yack afterward for an hour long talk.
This morning I was up early again to pick Lynda up so we could go into Toronto for the Home Show. It was held at the convention centre next to the CN Tower and Air Canada Centre. The show itself was good - all kinds of products and services for the home - but it always astounds me when I get into a building of that size; hundreds of thousands of enclosed square feet of SPACE! Knocks my eyes out!
This is going to be a short entry as it's time to get some rest but I did want to say that Lynda celebrated 5 years smoke free today!!! Quite the accomplishment, I'd say. Trying to get my head around another quit (which I've been stalled on for months). Actually I picked up a mixture of aromatic oils today that I'm to leave open beside the bed while I sleep; when I light up it's supposed to change how the cigarette tastes - bad. Whatever it takes....