21 years

robin's picture of the foggy road ahead

a short version of our meeting. here's a longer version.

robin and i met at a party on new years eve 1988. we exchanged a hello early in the evening. she is the twin sister of a man i knew already. i did not see her again that evening till midnight. we caught each others eye and danced together for one whole minute. it was a good dance. we have been together since then.

21 years!!!

if our relationship were a person it could drink brandy legally, in california anyway. if it were a dog it would be 147 years old in human terms. did i get that right?

robin and i have been together for 21 years. that is longer than i have lived with any one else. we both worked for the first 17 years together. we even worked together at one job for a while! after we cobbled together just enough security, which included selling our house and relocating, we retired. since then we mostly spend all our time together.

it has been a long strange trip from our home in santa cruz apres work: port townsend, wa. arcata, ca. capitola, ca. nevada city, ca. we still cook for each other, very well if i may say so. we walk together. we spend hours together without speaking, each lost in a book or our blog buddies stuff or some new science info or even a bit of political news. then we offer each other what we have discovered.

we both heard and heed james taylor's advice:

Just shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will

we are not cheerfully optimistic about the future of humanity. even on a fairly short scale. we are solid in our love and happy with each other and our families.

happy new year to all. may you, as the buddhists put it, be free from suffering.