There's a First Time for Everything

It's no secret that JoAnn and I have a lot of fun together. We enjoy getting out and going places, although over the last 8 months that has been severely curtailed. We used to enjoy a Saturday afternoon drive in the country in Indiana. It was quiet, we could enjoy the beauty of the midwest, and most important we are together and can talk, listen, or just watch. It's more about being together and away from home then anything else. They have become an important part of our life. After the kids left we used to take spring breaks without them and go down into Tennessee and Kentucky and stay in their state parks, explore the countryside, and of course just relax. In recent years we have had fewer of those as we have moved closer to our children. Las Vegas doesn't afford a lot of quiet country driving, although we have a few places we do enjoy, and we seem to spend more time going to see our children or having them come see us. We love having them and visiting them. But we still need our time away from the day to day activities of home.

On Monday we dropped the Iowa McLean's off at the airport (not quite a "drop off" but that's another story) and headed up for a bed and breakfast in St. George. We have driven by St. George so many times, but never really spent any time there. We each took our books along to read, got on the internet and found the quilt stores, and made reservations at a historic and delightful B&B.

It was dark when we arrived on Monday so we went out for dinner, came back, read for a couple of hours and then got a good nights sleep. Tuesday we had a full day of quilt stores, historic sites, the St. George Temple, and a little television in our room. At about 9 pm JoAnn said she was really tired, we turned off the lights and went to bed. You guys know we hardly ever go to bed at the same time. I'm early and she is late. As we laid there I started telling her about the book I was reading and how enjoyable it was. We talked back and forth for a few minutes and then I went into a monolog story. I was quite happy just sharing the story when I realized I might be talking to myself. It was dark so I couldn't look into JoAnn's eyes. I stopped and asked, "JoAnn are you awake?" Not once, but 3 times (I've always been a little slow). Then I listened, and sure enough, there was that unmistakable purr of JoAnn when she is fully asleep.

I've put students, children, and grandchildren to sleep before, but never my wife. I guess there's a first time for everything.