Celebrating with Chopped Vegetables
We had a lovely, lovely anniversary---thank you for all the kind wishes. We did nothing big or exciting but it felt celebratory. We went out for a drink and giggled a bit. Then we headed home (the boys were out with Susan) and started cooking for the house concert on Saturday. Normally Ernie is my sous chef and does a lot of the chopping but he still can't do that with his arm in the sling so I chopped and he manned the computer playing songs we listened to when we first got together.
Some of the winners:
We simmered black beans for our Halloween chili, and sauteed a big pile of chopped onion, carrots, celery, garlic and juniper berries with some bacon for our French green lentils. I can't think of a lovelier way to spend an evening. The boys came bursting in and we chatted. I made them let me hug them and kiss them. I told Leo Happy Anniversary and he gave me one of his crooked smiles and told me I was crazy.
We reminisced about last year's 25th anniversary. That was such a special thing....it may sound funny, but we still feel the glow from that, and it made this year's anniversary feel even more special. Back in 2008 when we felt like we were falling apart from the quadruple whammies of Ernie's cancer returning, my father's recent death, my mother's decline, and looking at my sister's last few months, we had our first house concert. Inspired by our love for Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin and the joy we'd found earlier that year when Kenny Draznik, Paul Budin and Pat Dailey all came and played in our house, we went ahead and convinced Kieran, Kevin and Fats to play at our house. All I could think at that time was the fact that this was going to be our 20th anniversary and I didn't know how many more we'd see. Now it's 6 years later and Ernie is doing well although my mother and Judi are gone, and I try to savor each and every day I have with my loved ones. I'm more successful some days than other days but I try to hold tight to the moment and chopping vegetables and listening to music with Ernie last night felt like a true celebration.