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Sounds like you had a fabulous few days. I'm so glad your family and Teacher get along so well.

Thanks for the update! I look forward to hearing about your road trips.

I may have neglected to mention that I have been substitute teaching a couple of days per week this winter and spring. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to finish out the year at a middle school. The interim principal used to be my assistant principal and she sort of strong armed me into taking on a 5 week gig.

It's been really fun. I'm at a middle school and after a career with only high schoolers, it's been neat to spend some time with the rolling awkwardness that is middle school. And I'm teaching, not just managing the herd like most middle and high school substitutes do.

Since it is May 5 or Cinco de Mayo, I decided to make tacos. I happened to find some ground bison for sale and so have a freezer full. My son and I decided that bison tacos would be awesome. Teacher agreed and she stopped and picked up a few things to enhance the meal. We had a fantastic meal and some really neat conversations, then admired the new plants and flowers I put in my front flower bed today.

Then it was off to the monthly art walk and some music and seeing some friends. We were immediately accosted by some friends and invited into a patio area for laughter and music. Since we had spent much of the early evening having dinner, we missed out on most of the galleries, but that was okay. We ended up at a nice little venue with more music that wasn't too loud and had a chance to talk some more. It was interesting that we had a whole bunch more to talk about since I spent a week with students and am back into lesson planning and grading and whatnot. It's not like our conversations suffered after I retired, but we just had more "stories" to share.

I'd forgotten how tiring teaching every day is. I'm ready to snooze. We parted with some nice little smooches and each got into our own vehicles and headed towards our homes.

I really enjoy your updates, CD. I'm glad you're enjoying your substitute teaching. (My niece teaches 2nd grade.) It is a lot of work, and I salute you.

Doing an art walk sounds like a good time.

FWIW, there was a taco festival in town today. Such good food. I didn't see any buffalo offerings today, but your tacos sound yummy.

Well, nearly a month has gone by and I thought it might be time for an update.

The archaeology trip ended up being a bust. Both of us ended up getting sick due to kids sneezing on us. So we ended up not going and not seeing each other for more than just a few minutes over 2 weeks when I took her a care package of soup and tissues and cough drops and "Driving Miss Daisy" while she needed a few errands. Then one of her long time friends came into town about the time both of us were mostly recovered. I decided to stay back a bit to give her time with her friend instead of whining about not being together (we did go out to eat and dance together). I went over to Teacher's house on the last day of her friend's visit and knocked down her overgrown weeds and moved a few things for her and her friend. She made me breakfast as a thanks.

This week is the last week of school. For her, it is the last week in her current old building and preparing to move into a newly constructed school building. For me as a substitute, it is herd management and encouraging pre-teens and teens to not make bad choices in the last week. ONE MORE day. But, I was done a little early today and helped her haul things from her classroom to her home (she saved me the heavy stuff). We had a nice visit and shared a few hours of conversation and moving shit.

We are about to get serious about planning our summer trip to Yellowstone.

Guess, that's all the news!

[This message edited by countrydirt at 3:29 AM, Thursday, June 1st]

Sorry you were sick. I was looking forward to hearing about how you did the digging and if you found anything. Looking forward to hearing about your Yellowstone trip. Just don't make the national news by getting too close to the bison. LOL.

I'll bet you're glad there's only one more day of school. Cue Alice Cooper in the background, "School's out for summer...."

Fun little update on a couple of fronts. The school I have been substitute teaching is asking me to come out of retirement and teach full time next year. The principal and district superintendent both contacted me and asked me to take it on. I likely will. Middle schoolers - a rambling hallway of awkward - are a fun age.

In other news, Teacher and I ran into a friend last Friday on the monthly Artwalk. He said he was hosting a new open mic at a new venue and told me to try and drop by and play a few. Welp, tonight, Teacher just happened to be out and about and dropped by my house right before I was getting ready to head over to the new place. So we sat and visited for a while and looked over some maps and websites for our upcoming trip to Yellowstone.

To make a long story longer, I mentioned that I wanted to go the open mic, so she agreed to follow me. We arrived at the place and walked in together. I saw several familiar faces and a quite a few new ones. The owner of the Inn (pretty fancy event center in a really nicely restored Victorian home on a huge lot) greeted us and showed me where to sign in. We listened to music for about an hour and danced a bit before it was my time to step up and play.

I pretty much crushed my set tonight. Despite the fact that I was looking over my reading glasses at the audience, I was able to spy Teacher recording my warbling on her phone. After I finished my set the host called several up to "jam" a while and I played right along and even sang harmony on a few numbers. It was so much fun. I wandered towards the back of the venue and snuggled up to Teacher and discovered she was sending the videos to several of her girlfriends and then engaging in texting convos with them. Later we had a conversation about the fact that both of us had been married for 3 decades and that the love we had for our ex-spouses was still a part of our lives but that life is really good for both of us right now.

As it all wrapped up, she thanked me for bringing her along. She had such a good time. Hell, I had a great time as well. I escorted her home, fed little Molly some treats and we both agreed that sleep was the wisest choice for the evening, so after some really passionate smooching, I reluctantly exited and drove home.

Sheesh gang, we're so much in love! I know I've mentioned this before, but I NEVER expected to find this again in my life.

So great to read your stories and see you and Teacher not only doing great, but doing it at the pace you want.
What a great new beginning.