Pure Syrup

30 years ago this month, the Saint That I Am Married To and I started dating. We officially became a "couple"  on the night of her prom. 3 years after that, we were married.

The way I look at it, she had two good opportunities to say no and run like hell for the hills. That she wasted both of these opportunities (and many more) was to my good fortune. I like to think my good looks, charm and my mad romance skills somehow overpowered the warning signs that she must have seen.

In reality, 17 year old girls are not known for their good judgment when it comes to men. This is a trait that my wife did not grow out of until it was too late. Now she has three teen-aged boys in the house, me and our two sons.

To celebrate our thirty years together, I surprised her by taking her to a few places that we went in the first few months of our relationship.

The first place we went to was an amusement park down south. We had gone there for her "grad night" in 1980. For those of you unfamiliar with the custom, graduating seniors were loaded up onto busses on the night of their graduation and taken to the great big amusement park. The event  didn't start until 11 PM and lasted all night. If I remember correctly, we got back into town around 6 AM, leaving me just enough time to change and go to work. Coming home from work that afternoon was the only time I have ever nodded off whil riding a motorcycle. Fortunately I woke up before falling off or leaving the road.

This time, we strolled through a section of the park that has some talented street performers, including this percussionist.

This gentleman was quite good and had quite the kit.

Interspersed with the street performers are numerous shops and restaurants. Of course, we strolled through most of them, looking at stuff that brought back memories of the park from when we were kids.

After our time at the great big amusement park, the nostalgic evening continued as we went to the very same restaurant that we went to on the night of her prom. It's known for it's view and the food is pretty good as well.

The sun sets into the fog. It was a great view and

it brought back some great memories. Of course

this time, I knew enough to tip the hostess and

was able to get seated at a window. Well worth

the price.

If you time it right, you can catch sunset and see from afar, the 

fireworks at the great big amusement park. This is the view as

we left. 

To be true to the nostalgic theme, we should have driven to the beach and made out for four or five hours. The truth be known, I had to work the next day and we had a long drive home, so we called it a day. Responsibility is a bitch.

Thanks to The Saint for putting up with my sorry ass for all of these years. Hopefully, she won't smarten up and throw me out - I'm pretty fond of her.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe