Party of the First Part

We're a bit like Uncle Joe here at Chez Loudshoes today; we're a-moving kinda slow. We had a big party here yesterday to celebrate both my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, and the Mister's 50th birthday. (Neither one really liked the idea of a party in their honour, so I told each of them that the party was really for the other occasion. Totally worked.) A late night and a couple of margeritas sure has an unkind effect on a middle-aged body.

We had around 40 or so people in the backyard, and the day was just beautiful. (I'm not sure what we'd have done if it rained; there's no way we could fit 40 people in our house. It would have to be "you, hang out in the bathroom, you, here's the laundry room, you, try the garage".) We had a Tiki Bar and canopy set up, (Thanks, Don!) which made it all look very festive. The Mister did mammoth work in the yard yesterday to make it look nice for the party. Honestly, the vegetable garden looked like Brazil before he got working on it, and it ended up looking perfectly civilized by the time the guests arrived. I cleaned the house like a woman possessed, and it looked pretty good, too. I managed to do about 6 things that I had put off for ages, just because I had a reason to get them done. The Mister and I figure we should have people over every 4 to 6 months or so, we get so much done around the place. If you think being alive for 50 years is hard to get your head wrapped around, think about being married for 50 years. Staying married for a half a century is no small feat these days, when statisically one has a better chance of surviving cancer than staying married. There have been many a day when I was pretty sure my marriage wasn't going to last for the next 50 minutes, let alone 50 years. My parents not only have managed to stay married for 50 years, they've actually made it look pretty easy to do so; it's not just that they're still together, they still like each other, too.

A couple of people asked me if it made me feel old to have a husband in his fifties. On the contrary, I replied, it makes ME feel younger than ever! Having a spouse who is 3 1/2 years older than me is fabulous, I get to go through the getting older process by osmosis first, and then first hand a few years later. Doesn't seem like such a big deal then. Also, no matter how old I get, he's always older. It's a very good system.

It was good to have a quiet day today, yesterday was a long and busy one. And at least now, nothing needs doing around the place.