LOOKING BACK ON A HELLUVA JOURNEY

"So what is your level of interest here?" A sales pitch? A survey? No, that was the question posed to me on the first date with the one and only hubby. Remarkably, it was not a deal breaker. In fact (many people know this story), after several more dates and hours spent on the phone, he asked and I said yes ... 19 days after that first evening.   August 31, 1986 As today is the 30th anniversary of our wedding, some eight months after getting engaged, what better time than to have a look back at what has turned out to be a pretty incredible journey .. Travel began straight away with the honeymoon to London, Paris and Nice, the hubby's first trip to Europe. In 1986, it was so cheap to travel and the exchange rate was so favorable, people from the east coast would go to London for a "shopping weekend." We bought armloads of cashmere sweaters for next to nothing.  Those were the days ..  A second trip to Europe followed the next year to Spain and Portugal, where it was hard to spend more than $40 on dinner at the best restaurants .. including a bottle of wine. Soon after, we bought our first home.  Bye, bye travel .. Sam & Hannah, circa 1995 We had a kid, bought our second (current) home, and had a second kid literally in the blink of an eye, and the traveling promptly stopped -- at least internationally -- until the kids were much older.  Oh, maybe a weekend here or there, but nothing akin to how we go now.  We went east numerous times to see family .. even left the kids in NY while he and I went to Montreal and Toronto (baseball was a part of that trip), until we were promptly summoned back.  Maybe it's not so much fun watching other's little ones after all ..  Along the way, as the kids grew up to be the pretty great young adults they now are, we did family travel ... England, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Mexico; Alaska, Hawaii and many other parts of the US. There were "boy" trips (seeing Ohio State win the national championship) and "girl" trips (Broadway binge). One of the best series of trips have taken place over the Thanksgiving holiday during their college years.  Instead of bringing them home, we would all meet up for a four-day rendevous, exploring various U.S. cities: NYC, Chicago, New Orleans and Nashville.  We continued post-college one year with a drive and stay in Napa, and this year we return to New Orleans ... great fun, great food, plus uninterrupted quality time spent together. Thanks to the hubby's political involvement, we were honored to attend the White House Hanukkah party numerous times .. At this point, the big trips are the two of us ... extravagant, world-wide and without a hint of guilt.  If and when our kids have significant others, that "landscape" might change.  For now, it is a joy to continue on this incredible ride with the hard-working and forever-entertaining hubby, whom I love and respect.  After 30 years, that's pretty, pretty good ...   ~~