40th Anniversary

Friday was our 40th wedding anniversary. Here is the photo from our wedding invitation. As you can see, we have not changed even one little bit!

Our son Rich scanned the photos from our wedding album a few years ago. They had aged and reddened a bit (apparently common for prints from that era), but you can see and enjoy them all here. Not every minute together has been full of bliss, but it has nonetheless been wonderful. We still are madly in love with each other and have fun being together. We are hoping for 40 more years, at which point we will reassess 😉😀. I had the photos running as a slideshow on the big screen at the Institute during the day, and I passed around a printout of several wedding photos during my class, so everyone got to share in our occasion. I can't think of a much better or more appropriate way to celebrate it than while serving here.

Dee had a followup foot x-ray scheduled in the morning, in preparation for her doctor visit on Monday. She was able to move the appointment to Monday morning, so she will only have to make one trip to the clinic and doctor's office, giving us another very welcome morning at home. Outside it was really hot and humid. In the late morning I walked up to Todis to get just a few things for dinner in the evening.

We had a bunch of stuff to carry out to the car, two trips worth, which is rare, though mostly because I still won't let Dee carry anything heavy yet. She can now carry some light bags, which is a big help. She wore her tennis shoes with arch supports all day and apparently did very well, which is a nice improvement. I was still hurting by the end of the night, but not in the same places, and only a 7 out of 10 instead of a 10 like before.

Once at the Institute, I finished prep for my two Luke lessons. Most of the quotes that I use come from www.gospeldoctrine.com, but my notes from past Seminary lessons are often handy. After that I took a break and walked over to the train station to get some clarifications on the new SIM cards that we just bought for Wes's visit. While there, I went up the street to the BNL ATM to get some cash. 

Dee worked in the kitchen again all day, making peanut butter cookies for Monday, when she won't be there due to the doctor appointment and Wes showing up. One batch got overcooked, so several of us had to help her destroy the evidence. Fortunately, she had done a bunch of prep on Thursday, so the big dinner was easier. 

Our group for the Institute class was rather small, but we had a very good discussion of Luke 16-18. There were two American girls needing translation, which worked ok, although both I and the translators got confused occasionally. For example, when the translator (Claudia, and then Anziano Lewis) had a comment to make, they would speak in Italian and I would translate it into English, except a few times we reversed roles. I think that everyone was able to understand, and lots of people had comments in both languages. At one point, Anziano Lewis forgot to translate, so I prompted him to continue. He apologized later, saying that he was thinking so hard about what I was asking that it completely skipped his mind to translate. I will take that as a compliment 😀. Alessio never likes to have his photo taken, so I got to be in the group shot this time, with him behind the camera.

The crack chicken and brownies (with our 40th candle stuck into them) were very popular. Todis only had the slider-sized buns, so we served teeny tiny crack chicken sandwiches. So cute! I kept some chicken and bacon for Anziano Papritz to make into a wrap, since he stays away from dairy products. Yum--bacon!

Dee had washed the dishes all along, so there was not too much left for me to clean up. We left about 9:30pm, with the kids still there playing games. It is always nice to see them enjoying being together, including several non-members who are very well integrated into the group.

Ashley, our new American girl, came in to chat with us about being a senior missionary. She said it looks pretty chill. I guess we make it look easy! We have some long days but it's true that we devote ourselves to games and fun, too.

Christian came over after his mariachi gig, so he must be enjoying the group. It's great to have him there.

I showed Noelle and Jomar a YouTube video for a talent show idea. It's called Steam Heat, from The Pajama Game. The choreographer was Bob Fosse, who did Chicago, All that Jazz, Cabaret, etc. They had never heard of any of those movies. But then, I showed them a clip where Michael Jackson's moved are side by side with a Bob Fosse dance, and they could relate to that.