It started Thursday.  It was our wedding anniversary and I had asked Sylvia where she wanted to go.  She answered with the words every husband loves to hear, “Surprise me.”  Yeah, like that will really happen.  She knows my thoughts–sometimes before I do.

We had talked earlier about the steak house in Grand Rapids.  It’s the place we like to go on special occasions for fillet mignon and sweet potato fries.  (We stopped cooking meat at home several months ago.  We sometimes eat meat when we go out, but not always.  Thursday we had decided that we would.)

When we arrived at the steak house, we were surprised to note only one available parking place in the front.  We parked and went in.  The place was nearly full.  We were taken to a small table.  New TV sets lined the upper wall.  Flat screens hung shoulder to shoulder–each tuned to a different sports channel.  A couple of projection sets hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room.  More of the same.

Finally the waitress brought us some water that tasted strongly of chlorine.  We examined the menu, but couldn’t find our favorite dish.  Some hours [not really–only seemed that way] later the waitress returned to take our orders.  “No, we don’t have fillet mignon.  We’ve dropped that and hash brown potatoes.”  We had sirloin, which eventually made its way to the table.

Bottom line: Our favorite steak house is now a [yuck] noisy sports bar that features mediocre service, but that has okay food.  (One out of three is not good enough!)  Our evening was about being together, and that part was great!  However, we won’t go back.  We’ll start looking for another “special place.”

Friday morning, Sylvia left for church right after breakfast.  She spent four hours working in the church kitchen preparing for Saturday’s fund raiser.  At 1 PM she came home for a quick lunch and then off to shop in Grand Rapids.  She returned in time to fix the evening meal.  After that she baked a couple of pies for the Saturday fund raiser at church and cut up fruit for a fruit salad.

Saturday morning, after exercise and breakfast, we loaded up my car and drove an hour to her sister Joyce’s house.  On the way there, Sylvia said wistfully to me, “I’ll be glad when this weekend is over.”  Joyce, Karen and Sylvia hosted a wedding shower for Kelly, the daughter of their sister, Gay.  As guests began to appear, the guys were banished to the basement (aka Paul’s man cave).  The gals had a good time, and later, after the guests had left, the guys were allowed to rejoin the gals.  We had almost a half hour for family visits before Sylvia and I had to change our clothes before going off to her 50 year High School class reunion.

What a surprise!  We arrived to find a room full of about 250 old folks.  Sylvia soon parked me at a table with another classmate’s spouse.  While our wives visited with other classmates, Keith and I had a nice long chat.  Turns out we live just a few minutes apart.  You may have heard, it really is a small world.

The food was very good and the program was well done.  One of the classmates is a singer in the musical group The Doo Wops.  They delighted the attendees with their songs.  They even told us something that we had all missed on the newscasts.  Our term-limited governor has only one item left on her agenda.  She wants to change the state song to Get a Job.  If you’re from Michigan you’ll understand why that got the biggest laugh of the night.

Too soon, the entertainment was over.  The gals wandered off for some more conversation.  Eventually, Sylvia returned to table and we arrived home shortly after 11 PM.  (past my bed time)

Sylvia spent only a little bit of time in preparation for Sunday and Rally day that night.  The bed felt good.

Sunday morning we left early for church.  Sylvia had a few things left to do for Rally Day.  Soon folks began to arrive and they went for the fruit that Sylvia had brought.  The program went well with Sylvia leading the proceedings.

Part way through the Worship Service, Sylvia took the children to the playground for fun and games.  When it was over, we returned home and unloaded the car.  I had planned to take her out for Chinese.  We are particularly fond of Szechuan vegetables.

While I was getting ready to go, Sylvia called to check in with her sisters.  They were all gathering for an informal left-overs lunch and and a visit with Gay and Kelly before they returned to Florida.  Sylvia said goodbye to me and left.  I went into town for a sandwich.

While Sylvia was visiting with her sisters, I made myself comfortable in the recliner.  I turned on the TV to watch Saturday night’s NASCAR race on the DVR.  Midnight crawled into my lap and soon we were both asleep.  Neither of seemed to care that we slept through most of race.

Sylvia returned home about 9 PM just in time for the weekly call to our son, Scott.  After that we went to bed.  Sylvia was asleep about the time her head hit the pillow.

She slept it on Monday morning.
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