Today we would have been married 35 years. That seems like an extremely long time, but it flew by in an instant. You have now been gone from me for a few months longer than 5 years. Surprisingly, that has also flown by.

Aimee called yesterday. Since we share an anniversary, she wanted to wish me a happy one, even though you weren't here. Does that sound strange? What she meant, and I knew what she meant before she even voiced it was to have a happy day full of good memories. I also wished her and Lee a happy anniversary. They have made a good life together.

I will celebrate with good memories. I would like to have our "1st date" meal today but that is impossible right now. Since it was pizza, and I am not able to eat it because of not being able to wear my lower denture, I'll have to find something else to have, probably spaghetti, although it won't be your recipe. But I can eat pasta easily enough.

I do have so many good memories from our life together. You would love to be seeing these babies growing. William, who was born right before your transplant, is playing your trumpet now. He was 13 this year, that doesn't seem possible. Petra is quite accomplished on the piano and flute and is a wonderful artist.

Dani is now married with 2 kids, Veronica and Garrett. Heather is finally expecting and hoping to carry this one to near term. She's had a hard time and had a procedure to keep her uterus closed. 

Havyn started pre-K this year and has such a cute personality. She starts cheer and tumbling Thursday. Brooks is almost walking and the Kern is strong in him! Kayden and Kim are expecting a little girl in November and Kiyann has graduated and is working at the Hampton Inn. I don't know when she and Danny are going to get married, it's just a given that they are. She's also a 2nd degree black belt now and teaches the beginner class.

As you look down on us, you know that we lost Mom in April. She was so ready to go and she almost made it to 94. I think we have her house sold and that will close out her trust. Between Ronna's estate and her trust I thought I would go mad at times!

I'm just plugging right along. I've been trying to write a book about the transplant and how it changed me. I don't know if you could really tell the change, except maybe that I became bossier, because you were always there encouraging me to do things. But, I did and I can tell that I did. So, I want to share that with others.

You would have been proud of me I think. I traded the Journey last year. It was starting to need some major work. I researched the models I wanted and decided on a GMC Terrain. It's a little smaller than the Journey, and if I'm really truthful I liked the Journey better and if they still made them I would have bought another one. But, this was probably the easiest sale the salesman made. I had narrowed my choices down to 2 different models. The dealer just happened to have them sitting on the lot side by side and without even opening the door or test driving, I made my decision. I was quite proud of myself, it took me until I was 70 to buy a car without a husband with me!

Let's see, Em and Bryan are both EMTs and work together with the ambulance service, or as Havyn calls it, the "boo-boo bus". Ryan and Amanda moved to North Carolina with his job and they love it. They've been there a year now. Ryan came back for Kiyann's graduation and they did make it to Illinois for Mom's service. Tori just got engaged. I guess this guy is a pretty good one. They got engaged at a baseball game and of course were on the video board.

I don't hear much from your kids anymore. But, that's understandable, at least to me. Harris is in New Mexico the last I heard which was about 18 months ago. Joe and Tina are in Oklahoma. I think Tina still works for the USDA, although with all of the cuts that have been made I don't know. John and Heather are still in Georgia and the girls are still close in Oklahoma.

Larry and I have gotten closer since we are the only ones left. That seems strange now. We both have conversations with Ronna and Mom at times. Larry says he talks to her every time he's at her house. He's done all of the cleaning out. I haven't been back to Illinois since her funeral. But he and I talk about every day now.

I think that catches you up on things here. After Barb moved, I started thinking that I'm the only one left on the corners from when we moved here. The neighborhood is in sad shape now. Ms. Horner's house across the street where Jeff and Linda lived burned about a year ago and the shell is still standing. The overgrowth is so much you can barely tell there was a structure there. And the house next to the brick one we looked at burned last week. They are just now started to clean it out. It was pretty much gutted.

Well, my love, I do miss you you still every day. But, sadness is mostly gone. Maybe today I'll take a little drive somewhere and just think of you. I've done that before and it makes for a lovely day...at least for me.

Happy Anniversary!