Thirty-seven Years and Counting

Richard and I just celebrated our 37^th wedding anniversary.  That was a bitter-sweet realization for me.  It was sweet to think that we’d held our marriage together (with the help of a lot of love and duct tape) for 37 years.  The bitter part was when I realized I’d been married for thirrrrrty-sevvvven years.  That’s a lonnnnng time.

But looking back over that many years, I would say our greatest accomplishments had to do with family.  Five adult children (2 from Richard’s previous marriage and 3 of our own), 9 grandchildren (ranging in ages from 22 months to 18 years).  Except for our oldest son and our oldest granddaughter (who live in California and Central Florida, respectfully,) we have our entire family within seven miles of our house.

I remember being a young mother and having a hard time finding a babysitter when I needed one.   It makes me very happy to have my little munchkins around me for two reasons:  I’m glad to know that their mom and/or dad can do something for themselves and not worry about their kids.  The second reason is I spend most of my time laughing at the antics these little people come up with.  They are so much smarter than me.  They give me a run for my money.

Granted, I collapse in my recliner as soon as they leave, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it.

How about you?  How long have you been married or single?  What is the highlight of that marriage or the time you’ve been single?  Would you change any of it?

Later, Dolores

Where do I get my ideas from?

People are always asking me how I come up with some of my ________ ideas.  Please pick from one of the following to fill in the blank:  good, bad, crazy, off the wall.  Honestly, I do have strange ideas, and they seep into almost every aspect of my live. 

I’m a published author, and my writing spans from Southern Women’s Humor about a female tow truck driver in a small town in Georgia to a dark fiction about an abused woman who kills her husband.  In the middle of that mix are a few mysteries and even a paranormal romance.

I’ve been known to throw theme parties from elegant dinner affairs to an author/agent reception for my local romance writers’ chapter.  Every room in my house was decorated to represent a different romance genre—a Medieval Faire, Murder on the Orient Express, Little House on the Prairie.

I’ve also been known to feed full-scale meals for anywhere from 25 to 50 people out of the small kitchen in our recreational vehicle.  Or, 225 people in our barn when I celebrated my twenty-ninth annual twenty-ninth birthday.  I’ll do the math for you.  I was turning 58.

Those are the kinds of ideas people always want to know where in my brain they come from.  I think it is an affliction caused by the paste I ate in the first grade.  That’s about the only thing I haven’t heard named as cause for our health decline in later years.  But I’m thinking I might be on to something.  You be the judge.

How do you come up with your ideas?   

Dolores J. Wilson
doloresjwilson.com