"And on the seventh day, He rested"

Today is Sunday and has always been our day of rest. I am glad Bob adheres to this belief not only because God has told to do so, but because Bob really does work physically hard and he needs this day of rest.

To back up a couple of days, earlier in the week I asked Bob if he thought he knew everything about me there was to know - keep in mind that we have been married over 44 years now. Of course, he was confused I would ask that kind of question - there's one of those "women" questions, I am sure he was thinking and I know we do have a way of catching men off guard. I was serious because this is something I had realized a few years back but didn't know if he was aware of this fact especially since we have been together so long. I also have the idea that other marriages I am familiar with seem to not have as much fun as Bob and I do and I wondered if it was because they don't realize each other's needs change. Now, I'm not saying that everyone must joke and tease to be happy, but there is an aura of familiarity of comfort between two people when their relationship is in harmony.

I came to the conclusion some time back that we never stop learning something new about our partner. When I was 20 and met Bob, I was instantly bowled over by him, even his charming proposal of marriage in the form of an offer to do his laundry for the rest of his life was one I couldn't turn down. We didn't know anything about each other when we decided to get married so I guess we were both pretty gullible and naive to take each other's word for whatever we said. It was a "feeling" for me and I was open to learn and I was an adventuous person and yes, a very naive, stubborn, sheltered 20 year old. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have always had a lot of guy friends, and guys I had been serious about, but worldly not so much.

Now I realize that I was gifted with a preception of myself and my choice. It has to be that gift from God and my faith and Bob's faith too, that has also kept us together. Today I am in awe of the traits I see in him that I know as a young person I took for granted. My father and mother were very hard workers and so was Bob - maybe it was something that I just expected from the man I chose but I know today that I lucked out. I would rather think that it was God's hand in my choice and He gave me a beautiful gift. Today I see what Bob needs to be content, I knew this some years back when we made the huge decision to bring our son Brian home from the VA hospital to take care of him. Brian was a total care patient requiring round the clock care. We worked it out as a family how we would share the care.

Bob couldn't give up his job at Hoover Dam to help me during the day so not only did he come home from the long hours at work exhausted, he needed some time to relax too, but after dinner, he was ready to give his time to Brian so I could rest a bit. Our kids pitched in for a couple of hours too. Bob used his down time to either do things around the house - yard work, always planting flowers, mainly roses, tending the grounds, or building things. Working was his therapy to help against the stress and agony of our son's condition which was a result of the accident while he served with the Army in Germany.

Today he has slowed down his pace of physical work and he has had to do just that - pace himself and it is a struggle to change something that has been so inherently ingrained. I recall too when I first met him he told me about his dream. He wanted a farm in Kentucky. I'll tell you here and now - I was raised a city gal, but I had great-grandparents who were farmers in Ohio, so somewhere in my genetic background must have been a dormant farm gal ready to be energized. Talk about how God works in strange ways, after almost six years of marriage and four kids, we were living in Massachusetts, when we got the call from Bob's grandma that the farm next to her's was up for sale. Well, Bob quit his job at the Mass. Air National Guard on the Cape, and we sold our home, and moved to Wickliffe, Ky, where we did buy that farm and Bob also went to work at the Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, as a welder and he was farmer, too.

My life with Bob has been a variety of unexpected surprises and journeys. It is a comforting thought to know there will always be something new to learn and life will never be mundane.