19 Years

I thought about writing a long, fluffy romantic post about how the Scout Master and I met, and our wedding day, and the last 19 years of marriage, but instead I saw the irony in our text conversation today and thought I'd post that instead.

Here's where we were on February 19, 1994...

Del Mar, CA

And here's where we are today...

Scout Master (Tampa, FL);  Me (just dropped Flowering Buttercup off at Seminary)

And here's a guest post from the Scout Master that I borrowed from an email he sent me last night.  I have not yet cleared this with him because he's in meetings all day, but I'm pretty sure he won't mind that I'm sharing it. (I've blacked out all the incriminating details of his meetings just in case those are supposed to be secrets.)

I flew into Tampa tonight and have a meeting with Bankers Ins in St Pete tomorrow to discuss partnering with them for Homeowners ins on the direct side. I ate a good dinner at Dallas Love Field, but when I landed I felt like getting a Gelato or ice cream. I checked into my hotel and asked about any ice cream store around the area and was told the closest one that was any good would be near the beach about 12 miles away. I decided to try it and so I entered everything into my GPS and took off toward the beach. 3 miles from the gelato place, I realized my route was going to take me across a toll bridge and I didn't have any money. The last time I was in Tampa I thought I would take the Skyway toll bridge, only to discover my rental car didn't have a Sun Pass for the toll and I had no money then either. The attendant took down my DL # and filled out an IOU for me for $1.50 and said the Great State of FL would lend me the money and I could mail in a check when I got home (which I did and they kindly cashed it). I did not want to do that again, so I flipped around and looked for anything on this side of the waterway. I found a Cold Stone about 3 miles back that was open till 11:30(or so it said on my app). It was only 10:15 so I figured I was good and drove to it. When I got there the street and store were deserted, not a soul around. I remembered that I had passed a Publix supermarket near my hotel and figured I would just go there for some ice cream instead. 11 miles back to the hotel and I turned the wrong direction, had to pull a U turn, pulled into the wrong Publix entrance and had to pull another U turn. Finally I arrived in the store parking lot only to find they closed at 10:30 (it was 10:39). Taking it as a sign to just give up and go to bed, I headed for the hotel again, but then remembered seeing a CVS pharmacy when I turned the wrong way a minute ago and figured they would certainly be open till midnight or so. I began to drive there and as I was getting close, I went to move over into the left turn lane and was cut off by a rude FL driver who wouldn't let me get over. I passed the CVS and had to make the same U turn I had made earlier, got back to the CVS as the lights were being turned off and the store locked up (it was now 11:00 pm). Again swearing under my breath I headed for the hotel. Being flustered and unfamiliar with the area and refusing to use my GPS since I had passed the hotel now multiple times, I missed the left hand turn to the hotel. At the next light was a Shell gas station and seeing that it was open I decided to get some cheap ice cream there.  I finally found some, checked out and headed back to the hotel. As I passed through the lobby, I noticed they had the exact same ice cream in the hotel market snack section...just my luck! Now I am sitting in my room at 11:30 at night looking at the ice cream and not really wanting it at all!!! Too bad this room doesn't have a fridge...I could just save it for breakfast.

There are some really important things about the Scout Master's personality that I feel I need to point out from this little journal entry that he forwarded to me.  

1.  He has a great sense of humor.
2.  Ice cream is an important part of his life.
3.  He loves an adventure.
4.  Even when it looks like there's NO WAY, he finds a way.  
5.  When weaker people would give up and go to bed, he is focused and relentless.
6.  He doesn't actually swear...under his breath or anywhere else.

If you combine those six things with all of the Scout Master's other great qualities and add four amazing children, it all adds up to 19 pretty awesome years!  Happy Anniversary!!  <3