My last weeks travels

I have been busy from my last post.   I have driven around 3000 miles in about a week’s worth of time.

A brief summary I drove from Miami home, and then the next day we drove to Tina’s mom’s house in Pennsylvania. The following day Tina and I drove up to New Hope Pa to spend a night at the Fox and Hound Inn to celebrate our 20^th Anniversary; we were kind of late being it was the 3^rd of the month but this has been the only time that I have been home though. The next day we drove back to her mom’s house so we could do Thanksgiving the next day.  The day after thanksgiving we drove home and the next day I drove to Miami back to work.

Out of the whole trip the time with Tina was so special to me.   It has been over a year sense we have spent any alone time without the girls.   What really made it special was that we stayed at The Fox & Hound Inn.  For us it is such a special place with many cool memories as a couple. For me I have so many happy memories from there and it really is my second home because of the amount of time I have spent there this year.  The last time Tina was there was when she and the girls joined me for last Christmas.   What really made this visit cool was we got to stay in room 101.  Because I have stayed at the Inn so much I have names for all the rooms but this room is the most special room out of them by far.   I call this the Rebirth room, being it was the room I recovered from after surgery and it is the starting of the new phase of life for both Tina and I.   So when I was booking this trip I was overjoyed that we could spend a night in the room and it was very fitting to celebrate our anniversary.   That night we started celebrating with a nice bottle of wine and got to share it with Sara my good friend that works there.  It was so nice to catch up on what was happening in her life and share what was happening in ours as well.  Lisa and Michael the owners of the Inn joined us later on and we all had a great time talking.   After that we headed off to dinner at DeAnna's for a wonderful dinner.  It was so romantic and the food was so good!   It was such a nice way of to end a wonderful day with Tina, what a way to reconnect with each other. 

Wine Tasting

When I travel I always like to go to a new church.  I did my usual Google search and came up with Plymouth Congregational Church.  I really liked how old the church was and also they did say they were accepting and affirming so I thought I would give it a try.   I really did enjoy the service and loved what the pastor talked about in his sermon.  In one of the readings of the bible that they did was of how women for many years had been bleeding and touched Jesus garment and was healed.   He piggy backed on that on how touch is so important to us today.     He gave many examples of how we communicate by touch in many different ways, or when things are tough we reach out to touch the ones that we love.

It really hit home for me especially over the last month.  Recently we just had to put Abby to sleep when we were moving to Rock Hill.   Interestingly one of the ways that Abby and I really communicated was for me to hold her paw.   It was a way that we showed each other our love.  She loved to have her paw held, she would sit up on my lap and put her paw on my had to be held and sit there and purr up a storm.  As she was passing, I did get to hold her paw one last time.   Sure was a hard time for both Tina and I, and we reached out to hold each other’s hands as well.  We have always reached out to hold each other’s hands when things get tough.  I think we all need a hand to be held once and a while, I’m sure glad that I have Tina’s to be there for me. 

On a happier note one of the things that they mentioned in the service was a wine tasting event in conjunction with St Stephens Church that evening.   It really did peak my interest, I have never been to a wine tasting before.  St Stephens’s church’s AIDS ministry was putting it on as a fund raiser for their ministry.   Normally I am really shy and will not try new things by myself much less go somewhere I really don’t know anyone.   However it was held at a wine store about 3 blocks from the hotel I am staying and I really did want to see the wine store so I gathered up my courage and took a walk up to it.  I was so shocked at how nice and welcoming the people were.   They greeted me and treated me so nice and friendly, I so didn't expect that.    A nice couple George and his husband Manuel and Lydia took me under their wings and introduced me to so many people.  We had such a good time talking, drinking good wine and eating some really good appetizers.   It really reminded me that I need to keep pushing myself to get out more, because if I wouldn't have done that I would have missed out on so much. 

Weeks Reflections

I had time the other day to as is was relaxing at this wonderful beach to reflect on the last week’s events. 

 I think the highlight has been that Tina and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary on the 3^rd.   I look back at the years and they seem like they have just flown by.  Like most couples we have had our ups and downs but all in all I feel so blessed to have Tina in my life.   As I was showing pictures of Tina and I to a friend the other day she said we have a true love story.  I think that her comment really does sum up our relationship so well.

A couple of post back I was talking about my suitcase and all the baggage we carry in life, I related it to my broken suitcase that I had.   Well I finally bought a new suitcase J

My baggage in life I have also been working hard in clearing excess out that I have been carrying around too.  With the recent move I think that will is going to really help.   I also have a few relationships that have been toxic as well.  I have been addressing them and either trying to fix them or limit the effect they have in life on me. I always find the family relationships to be the most troubling, I feel like I owe more to the relationships because they are family, but how far is too much?

Our family and animals are adjusting to the new house.  I think Brenna and I made the right choice on picking houses.