Long Hollow

Yes, we've been married for 49 "Friday the 13th"s now, starting with our wedding day.

Tom is the one keeping count. This afternoon he greeted me with "Happy 49th Anniversary!" 

I don't know how he does it – I can barely keep track of my age these days, but it makes me feel good that he does; it's easier to ignore him when he's grumpy and helps me overlook all of those empty Diet Coke cans and various tools left lying about.

Knowing you matter to someone else and they're glad you're in their life…. Sweet! #9

So we're celebrating tonight! I paid bills and he headed into the garage to start cleaning up in there.

Nah, just kidding.

Oh, we really did those things, but that's not the celebration. I just knew better than to procrastinate those bills. Now I've got to finish reading A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz for my latest BlogHer Book Club Review (due this weekend! Argh!) and THEN we'll snuggle up and watch a movie together and I'll try hard not to fall asleep. 

(Disclosure: I'm an Amazon Affiliate, so if you click on that link and buy the book from Amazon, I get a few pennies for my piggy bank.)

It's Friday, so here are my favorite photos of the week, for obvious reasons if you've been keeping up with the state of the Hollow…

Hope you've had a wonderful Friday the 13th!

P.S. I waited until I had permission to post this. It's another wonderful story – I hate to admit it, but better than mine – of why 13 has been given a bad rap and can actually be a lucky number…

When I first went to M.D.Anderson 34 years ago, the patient number they assigned me (which you keep forever) was 131313. I took one look and thought, "Oh, no, you don't… I won't take that number!" Then just as quick, I thought, "Wait a minute… are you going to be superstitious or are you going to trust in God." So I kept the number and although there has been a few bumps in the road, I'm still here enjoying life all these 34 years later. And what a wonderful life it has been; I can say that there are very few things on my Bucket List that I haven't achieved in those years. Also, through all these years, every time I check-in for all the multitude of tests each year, they all look at that 131313 and say, "Oh, my goodness, I would NEVER have accepted that number!" which gives me a chance to speak of God and faith. I would say that the number 13 (in triple no less) has NOT been unlucky for me. God is good.

Amen! Thank you for letting me share your story, MJ! (Anyone else have a good Lucky 13 story? I want to hear it!)