Forty-fourth

August 2021 continues. It has taken a turn towards the sweet.

Last Friday was Elaine’s and my forty-fourth wedding anniversary. I searched the internet for information on exactly what anniversary the forty-fourth is. You know, like paper for the first, silver for the twenty-fifth, and gold for the fiftieth. My research only confused me.

According to the internet the forty-fifth anniversary in sapphire, that is self-explanatory. I know what a sapphire is. Elaine wouldn’t want one, and we didn’t have a forty-fifth anniversary, we were having our forty-fourth.

The forty-fourth anniversary is “gourmet”. Someone explain what that means. Was I supposed to hire some guy named Wolfgang to prepare sauerbraten until we celebrated 45 years together? Do I keep him/her forever? Were we supposed to go to dinner? Were the tables supposed to have tablecloths?

I started to realize why marriages fail. No one wants to have a forty-fourth wedding anniversary! Who wants that confusion in their marriage?

I thought about jumping over the forty-fourth and celebrate our forty-fifth anniversary and get Elaine a sapphire. The problem with that is Elaine’s not a sapphire girl. She is more turquoise, onyx, or some pink rock used in Native American jewelry. Plus, Elaine had mentioned to me she has enough jewelry. I agree, she does have enough jewelry.

So, this is what I did. I went back to the “gourmet” idea. After work on Friday, I called home to discuss our anniversary plans, which at this point were non-existent. During the phone call, Elaine mentioned she didn’t want me to need to drive home and turn around and drive back to eat in a “gourmet” restaurant. That was the break I was looking for. I stopped at the local mega-mart and picked up four (not forty-four) boxes of sushi. Not the octopus kind, I don’t eat things that can eat me.

We celebrated our forty-fourth anniversary eating grocery store “gourmet” sushi from plastic containers. To make it more festive, Elaine brought out an entire bottle of soy sauce. None of those little packets on our anniversary.

We spent the rest of the evening with Elaine spinning yarn and weaving scarves to show/sell at the Salida Fiber Festival. I watched the Food Network on television and planned our forty-fifth wedding anniversary. It’s going to be a doozie.

On a related story, if you were to ever drive to Laramie Wyoming from Fort Collins Colorado, you will notice a giant boulder sitting near the road. This boulder is so big it has a name. Some people call it Haystack Rock, others call it Painted Rock. The rock is square in shape and at least twelve feet tall. I’m sure Haystack Rock was at one time the appropriate name, but now it is called Painted Rock as it has been painted hundreds of times, Happy birthday messages, graduation messages. things like that.

Our semi-emancipated Girl Twin telephoned Elaine and me from work Saturday morning. She asked Elaine and me to make sure we drove past Painted Rock if we went to town. You guessed it, Girl Twin and our other kid, Pipie painted an anniversary message on Painted rock. Elaine cried and I took a photograph. In a couple of weeks, it will be painted over with someone getting birthday wishes, but we will always know we are on the rock. Sweet!

It is getting busy in our yarn world. Our Wild West Knitting retreat is less than a month away. I think we have a couple of spots open, call Elaine or Ivy for information.

Elaine is preparing for the Salida Fiber Festival. I am thinking about sapphires and next year.

Our crazy lives!

Monner