Tale as Old as Time

Twenty-Five Years ago, I married my friend.

We have learned to laugh together, live together, and love together.





The following photos, as anyone with 25 years of marriage can attest, is only a small glimpse into all we have experienced. We are so far from who we were then, and we have so far to go. . .

. . . but we'll get there. . . together.



Because I didn't want to take my albums apart to scan, I simply photographed the photographs. My apologies for the poor quality!




John's Grad NIght, our first "real" date. June 1982


JoAnna's Senior Prom. May, 1984.





February 15, 1986

















We are homeowners for the first time!





Our firstborn, a son! Tyler Neil.




















May I have this figure back?

Please?






































































I remember when we were dating, I said to Himself, "If you can't give me a 50th wedding anniversary, then don't marry me."

He's half-way there.

Happy

Glenna: Happy Commercial Holiday, Mom!

Me: Happy Commercial Holiday, Glenn!

Glenna: Happy last-day-before-your-awesome-anniversary-when-I-get-to-stay-all-week-with-Bekah!

Me: Happy what you said!

I found this . . .

It was left on my computer.

Glenna. She can't be left alone for a minute.

Snowflake's Big Day***

Hi, my name is Snowflake!

Normally, I'm at college with Kelly. This week, however, she let me stay at home so I could go to a very important appointment. I went to the dentist!

At this dentist office, I was warmly greeted and then offered my choice of coffee, tea, or water.
Everyone knows a bear doesn't drink coffee or tea. Good thing I found Miss Nancy's stash of hot chocolate.



The waiting room was very comfortable and relaxing, with plenty of magazines and books to read.




Too soon, my name was called and I was escorted to the back room.
This chair can seem really big and really scary to a little bear like me!


Dr. D came in and he could see that I was a little nervous.
He took the time to carefully explain everything that they'd be doing. I was only in for a checkup, he said, so I it wouldn't take long at all.


The Dental Assistant, Tabitha, is a real nice lady!
She knows just which instruments to hand to Dr. D, even before he asks for them!



Open wide!



Suction and irrigating . . .



All finished!
Dr. D says my bear teeth are in perfect health because of all the brushing and flossing I do!


He did recommend that I use a mouthwash to kill any remaining germs. It would also help with my bear breath.


I blushed.


I got to look at some x-rays of my teeth.
That was amazing!


My next step was to see Miss Nancy, the Financial Coordinator.
I have dental insurance, so I only needed to pay a small co-payment for this visit.


The last stop was with LeeAnne, the Patient Coordinator.
She helped me set up my next appointment and wrote out a reminder card so I wouldn't forget.

My experience at the dental office was so great!



Who knows . . . maybe some day I could work at a dental office too . . .



. . .maybe. . . .someday. . .




***Kelly left Snowflake in the car by accident. He is being mailed to her today, along with these photos. She has no idea what her bear has been up to, and she's unable to access my blog at school. Heh heh . .

De-cluttering

Drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard, I have been getting rid of unwanted items. This part has been pretty easy.

I just bought a new skillet that works more efficiently. Why am I hanging on to the old one?

Herbs and spices with expired dates? No problem! Toss 'em!

How did I get 4 boxes of the same tea? Consolidate!

It was a little harder going through the books in my bedroom.

I love books.

Some were easier to toss, but some gave me pause. The thing that amused me was all the books that had markers in them, either half-way or a quarter-way through. ADD much? After I blew the dust off, I boxed them off.

It's going to be a little harder to do in the school room because I'm still home schooling. I think Glenna might need this or that . . . but there's really only a select few that she'll need. After this year, for example, I can donate all of my books on Ancient History. Yay! After next year, all of the Medieval books, etc.

What's really "cooking my grits" on this whole de-clutter thing are the mementos I've received or anything with a strong memory attached to it. I have drawers and boxes with this stuff! I received these texts from Kelly:

Bravo, Mom!
I'm really excited about all this purging going on. I think it's a great thing.

Go Mom go! It's just stuff! You'll be without it someday, why not now? Just think; clean open space. Nothing about the people they remind you of will change with the absence of an object.

I'm going to have to print that last sentence or memorize it as I do this. "Nothing about the people they remind you of will change with the absence of an object."

I can do this!

Hey Mom . . .

Here's some photos from where I work. I was downloading new software onto each computer and I had a little time to kill.

This is one of the dental rooms. So great that I actually know what everything is now. On the first day, Tabitha was showing me how to break down a room and she picked up this tiny sliver of metal and said, "Oh look! I almost threw this away!" I remember thinking that nothing that small would ever be noticed by me. Now, however, I know it's a 330 short bit for the high speed hand piece. Oh yeah!


Here's what you see when you're sitting in the dental chair:
As I was sitting here (waiting for the download, people! I'm no slacker!), a calico cat walked past the window. Made me laugh.



If you look over to the right while sitting in the chair, you get to see this:
Take care of your teeth, you guys.


You also see this:
See? Dr. D can take those ugly metal fillings out of your mouth and make them pretty and white again. He has done that for me on the top and we're almost finished with the bottom.

I love my job!