Once upon a time, a long long time ago...

I was a stupid kid, not really unintelligent, but I did some stupid things. I'm fortunate that things have worked out so well. As a seventeen year old kid I won an all expense paid, full ride scholarship to Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, courtesy of my rich Uncle Sam and the United States Navy.
Pretty smart kid, right?

After a semester of some serious partying I was ready to hang it up and figure out what to do next. I had already decided to quit school and was walking through the Navy building when the office administrator stepped out of the office and said, "John Hill? Colonel Morgan would like to see you." Our CO was a bird colonel Marine with the first name Ira. Yeah, he was a tough old bird.

Apparently my mom had called to give the Navy a heads up on my decision and the Colonel was now going to talk me out of quitting. Honestly, I'm not sure how he did it or what he said, but thirty minutes later I was staying for another semester--on academic probation.
At the end of my second semester, I did drop out of school and surrendered that full-ride scholarship.
See--not so smart, after all.

I wasn't ready to move back to sleepy, little Chillicothe IL and managed to get a job in New Orleans at the Canal Street location of Zales jewelry store. I worked there for several months before my roommate decided to move into another apartment with guys that were going to school and that left me with an apartment that I couldn't afford on my own.
Zales helped to find me a job back in Illinois and I eventually wound up at a mall in Vernon Hills, north of Chicago, not far from the Wisconsin line. 

The Zales store I ended up in only had a half dozen employees or so, but one of them was a very pretty blonde that I tricked into falling in love with me and getting married.
Smart, huh?

That's the short version of how I met Chris.
It was January of 1980. We got engaged on Christmas Eve and married the following September.
Today is our 40th Anniversary.

It's been quite a ride.
And I really can't imagine doing life with anyone else.
Sometimes I feel like this is just how life is supposed to be, like it isn't anything out of the ordinary or special.
We are pretty different in so many ways. Most nights find Chris inside watching TV and me outside on the deck smoking a cigar and listening to the night sounds. I usually turn in around midnight and sleep until 7ish. She's more likely to read until 3 or 4 in the morning and wake up around noonish.
I'm happy with just the two of us. She needs more people interaction.
I like baseball and the fights. She doesn't like any sports.
Much of our time spent together is pretty quiet and laid back, often with her reading her book and me reading mine and a little Van Morrison or Jackson Brown playing in the background.
It's been a lot of years since the kids have moved out and started their own grown up lives. We are well past the empty nesters stage. Retirement in the Covid era isn't exactly what anyone expected it to be and we are still trying to figure it out along with everybody else. Eventually we'll be able to do more traveling like we had hoped to do. As it is, we both really like our new home and there is plenty of stuff to do whenever we feel like doing it.
It's a simple life, but it's a good one.
And maybe being so comfortable with someone after 40 years isn't all that ordinary.
Maybe it's actually pretty special, pretty extraordinary.                                                                                                            
Like I said, I really can't imagine doing life with anyone else. 
Happy Anniversary, Babe.
I love you.

John