anniversary

Anniversary Weekend in Santa Barbara

Twelve years ago, we exchanged our vows in the clock tower of this very building on a sunny January morning…lots of surprises since, but not a single day’s regrets. 🙂

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And so it was that we celebrated our anniversary in Santa Barbara last weekend.

Familiarity with an area is at once comfortable and reassuring, same as with a long-term marriage. Even so, we’re always on the lookout for new experiences, and we actively seek out areas as-yet-unexplored. To our surprise and delight, we discovered Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens. It’s an urban oasis, truly, so beautiful and tranquil!

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Stearns Wharf was more kinetic and noisy, this being the final hurrah for snowbirds who flock to SoCal beaches during the winter holidays.

I didn’t walk the full length of the pie because of the uneven wooden planks. I’m not yet as sure-footed as I’d like to be, and I need to protect my injured ankle. For the most part, I just basked in the peaceful setting, cherished equally by locals and tourists. And thanks to my zoom lens, I was able to bring close the beautiful scenery that’s beyond my current reach.

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By the time I write my next blog entry, I’ll have migrated over to WordPress. I’ll give you a heads-up, of course, in hopes that you’ll follow me over there.) I can’t wait to tell you about our field trip to the Coronado Butterfly Preserve in Goleta! If you’ve never seen over-wintering monarchs before, you’re in for a real treat! Here’s a sneak preview–very short, because I’m just now figuring out the video features on my camera. 


Endings and Beginnings

It was nearly 80 degrees yesterday–nothing but blue skies from the Santa Ana mountains to the Pacific. And so it was that we decided to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in nearby San Juan Capistrano. The citrus trees were laden with fruit, and cottage gardens were coming into bloom. I honestly can’t picture a more perfect afternoon, nor can I imagine a better companion with whom to share the rest of my life.

I brought you this bouquet from my travels. And if you come back tomorrow, I’ll tell you about my Close Encounter of the Spielberg kind….  

Happy New Year, Happy Anniversary, Happy Me

Yes, it’s possible to find lasting love with a left-click of your mouse. To wit: today’s my wedding anniversary. 

Late in the last millenium, I moved back to California, leaving behind the remnants of a marriage that ended long before it was legally over. It was a triumphant return to familiar surroundings, sunshine, and myself.  I fell back in love with the neighborhoods I remembered from my childhood, and I reclaimed what I’d lost in my failed relationship. In the process, I cleared the path for a new life and new love. 

Over the next couple of years, I went on a number of dates with men who, as it turned out (how to say this kindly?), didn’t meet my admittedly high expectations. Meanwhile, I busied myself with my sons and my career, teaching and traveling around the world to give keynote speeches for the professional organization over which I presided. But when I returned home from my journeys, I turned the key to an empty home and empty heart, save for my wonderful sons and sweet kitty, Zoe.  

Long story made short: I discovered an online dating community (Matchmaker.com), logged on and met my future husband. Fast-forward past his initial email to me, the standard “phone chemistry” test that followed, the first “is-there-a-physical-attraction” meeting at a coffee house, and the eventual “I’d like to explore an exclusive relationship, would you?”  Zillions of dates and about 2.5 years later, the man I’d met in cyberspace proposed marriage in my favorite spot, an oasis in Palm Springs. I knew much earlier that this mensch was the man of my dreams, so I cried happy tears as I said, “yes.” We were married in an intimate ceremony in Santa Barbara, on a summer-like morning four years ago today. 

About twenty years ago, a Newsweek cover story, “The Marriage Crunch,” suggested a woman in her forties was more likely to be hit by a terrorist bomb than Cupid’s arrow. Long before that theory got debunked, I proved it wrong, and I’m now living happily ever after with my very own Prince Charming. 

(Yes, there is a connection between this story and my nonfiction work about trophy wives, but that’s another blog entry and a chapter in my book.)


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