Panda pictures and plans did not develop

Panda chengdu research project china ONE
Originally uploaded by davidcutts1

We have finally wandered into the top 10 most used labels in the initial 300 posts of this here blog.

# 10 Daviver's Travels

While we are not one of those families that vacations every year, we do enjoy travelling and when we do travel whether it be a field trip, a day trip, or a weekend getaway, I like to post about it here.

Today I'd like to talk about completing my panda trilogy earlier this year. And as most really good trilogies go, it has 4 parts. But to be technically correct let's call the 3rd part an interlude.

Part I:In the late eighties on a whim, I travelled by bus from Illinois to Mexico. While on the trip, I visited an old pastor who was currently a missionary in Mexico City. I also visited an ex-girlfriend who was studying in Monterrey for the summer. While I was in Mexico City I went to the Mexico City Zoo and saw the pandas among other things. I took some great pictures of the pandas but those pictures, not unlike my plans to patch things with the ex-girlfriend, did not develop.

Part II: A few years later, the summer I graduated college, I was accepted on a 2 year missions assignment to teach English in the Chengdu province of China. Chengdu is the area in China pandas are indigenous to. The above picture was taken at the Chengdu panda reserve. In my interview process, one of the missions staff introduced himself as the person you never want to receive phone calls from. There was a 2-3 month period between my being accepted and my leaving the country. During that time I worked in my father's office. One day at lunch I called home to check the answering machine and lo and behold, I heard the voice of the man you never want to get calls from. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say the Chengdu job did not develop either.

Interlude - Not all things develop the way you want or expect them to. Even though the girlfriend thing, the mission thing or the panda thing did not develop, other better things did. 3 months after China being closed to me, I was in Russia teaching English, starting churches and sharing the love of Christ in ways I could not have in China. Incidentally, Russia did not open up for visitors like myself until after I had been accepted for China. About a year after the Mexico trip, I ended up meeting the woman who would become the love of my life. Even though that picture took some time to develop.

Part III. This spring, about 12 years after Amy and I got married we visited Washington D.C. Amy had never been to D.C. and it was a long awaited and very cherished trip. On that trip we as a family saw pandas at the National Zoo; they were surprisingly active on the day we went. That visit did not turn out exactly the way we had planned it, but like the adventures depicted here, better than I could have imagined.

Next Time: 7 word September ends

A Crazy birthday tradition from/for Mom

A few years ago Amy made up a song and a Roller birthday tradition called the almost birthday. Like the Unbirthday from Alice in Wonderland, it celebrates being born but not on your actual birthday. This one gets very close to the mark, by being held on the day before the actual birthday.

Usually the person is greeted in the morning to the song. Tomorrow is Amy's actual birthday and since she usually leaves before I'm fully awake, we did not sing the almost birthday song. We decided to film a version of the song and post it on facebook during our morning break. As we were filming it Amy called from work for the express purpose of lamenting that we did not sing for her in the morning.

We are sorry for that but we were certainly thinking of you Hon when we filmed this . . .

Happy Almost Birthday. We love you very much.

People let me tell you about my best friend.

I am no multitasker, this is very true. I am a multi-utilizer. I like to use things for more than one purpose. This is especially true when it comes to this blog. If I am going to participate in a meme like Six Word Saturday, I often make those six words about something I was going to post about anyway.

I have been pretty busy lately with home school life, a guest post at another blog (more on this later), my temp job with the census, and just regular every day stuff. I have been trying to continue my series about my top 25 blog labels and I also wanted to participate in the Men's Monday Meme. I didn't think I'd be able to do both. But when I saw this weeks question I knew I could do both at once.




The question went like this:

Who is the woman that has made the most impact in your life and why?

To answer this question, I have decided to move up form my 7 way tie for label #20 and move to



Label # 19 Sitting in a Tree



While at first glance it may seem like this label is dedicated to posts about Zacchaeus, It is really a label about the woman that has made the most impact in my life. That woman is my wife Amy. I could write article after article about how much I love her and how important she is to me. And the thing is, I do.



Here are a few key points as to why she is the best thing before, after, and during sliced bread.



1. We match.



Ever since we met almost 20 years ago, we have had an instant rapport, or as one musical lyricist put it: A perfect blendship. We enjoy many of the same things and most of all we enjoy each other.



2. Great Minds Think Alike.



We not only sometimes complete each other's sentence. What is really cool, is this is still not gotten old. Just tonight we said the same thing at the same time and we were high fiving like the Bears just won the Super Bowl.



3. She Gets Me.



I am what you call an acquired taste. I have had many a friend, who has told me that when they first met me they did not like me. It may be, that I rub some people the wrong way. But I think that the truth is that people just don't understand me. Amy understands who I am, and she likes me for who I am.



4. She Helps Me.



Amy once described our courtship as friendship with help. She is not only my best friend, she is my biggest fan. When I talk to people I often don't make eye contact with them. This is not due to any conscious reason except that I get so focused on the convo, I forget to make eye contact. Amy has a code word she uses to help me remember eye contact. She makes a comment about My Aunt Eileen. (Eileen = eye contact) The thing is I don't have an Aunt Eileen, yet she has become one of my most important relatives.



5. She believes in me.



This may just be a rehashing of 3 and 4, but my wife thinks not only better of me than she does herself, she thinks better of me than anyone else other than God thinks about me. She is constantly reminds me of all the good gifts and talents the Lord has bestowed on me.



6. She's funny.



Humor is very important to me. Amy makes me laugh on a daily basis. Some times we crack each other up with our own private jokes. But more often than not it's just the natural laughter that comes from spending your life with your best friend.



I could go on and on. I could tell you what a great worker, mother, sister, daughter and friend she is. But, hey I want to save some of those so I have ideas for future blogs. One final thing I would like to say to her is.

You're really cute and I like you a lot!


If you are interested in viewing or participating in this meme, head over to Families Again.

Next Time: Films

How I feel about getting older

I discovered a new meme recently. It is called the Men's Monday Meme. It is at Families Again which was the winner of the 2009 HSBA for best Home School Dad blog. To see how I really feel about losing that particular award to him, go to my website I'mnotbitter.aargh!


Each week he asks a question or two on a topic. This week's question:

How do you feel about getting old? Do you relish it? Hate the thought? Are you somewhat scared?


Old is a relative term. When I was 23 years old and essentially beginning college, I felt old. I was around 17-21 year olds and while those ages remained the same year after year, mine just grew until I was 27, graduating with people 5 years my junior. When I was 32 and in seminary I didn't feel old at all. In fact I quickly realized what a pup I had been during my college years. Sure there were plenty of seminary students 10 years younger than me, but there were plenty who were 10 or more years older than me.

One thing that remained constant in my 20's into my 30's was that my body was in pretty good shape. Now that I am 45 I am having trouble with most parts of my body. 45 definitely feels different than 30.

In many ways I like my age. At least I like the stage of my life that I am in. I think kids keep you younger. My oldest child will be entering 6th grade in the fall and my youngest kindergarten the fall after. That means by the time Lucy is a senior in high school I will be 60. I did some math the other day and realized that when my Dad was my age I was graduating high school. I did a little more math and figured that when my Mom was my age my older sister was graduating college.

One thing about age is that it can be used as a measuring stick for accomplishments. When I was in my late teens early 20's I thought I would be married by the time I was 25. It's a good thing I didn't because I didn't meet Amy until a few weeks before my 26th birthday and marring her at 25 may have been rushing things a bit. I married her when I was 33 because that was God's timing.

When I did marry Amy, I started calling her my wife of 65 years. When you want to spend a lifetime with someone, you want that lifetime to last as long as possible. We just celebrated the 12th of those 65 years. Next year I'll be at the one fifth mark when we hit lucky number thirteen.

God gives us no guarantees on how many days he has in store for us. I am looking forward to spending a long life with Amy, our kids and any future family member He has in store for us. Growing older might not be all it's cracked up to be, but growing older with them certainly is.

For more of the Men's Monday Meme click here.

Next Time: Jefferson and Washington at Sunrise.

Sickness Disease

Last Wednesday night Amy as she was driving home from a Naperville hospital after visiting her Mom who was in for pneumonia felt arm and chest pains and drove herself to our local emergency room. I rushed over there and they admitted her early Thursday Morning. They ran every test you could think of EKG, Ultrasound of the heart, X-Rays, blood work, and some of these multiple times. They were able to rule out heart attack, mini strokes, basically everything. Yet for most of her visit, her arm still felt like something or someone was clamping on it. Eventually that feeling subsided and they released her with a clean bill of health. Our family doctor will check on her in a few weeks to make sure everything is okay.

This is the second time in less than 2 years that she has gone to the doctor with legitimate symptoms and they have not been able to find anything wrong with her. It is incredibly strange.
These visits both remind me of what happened with Amy when Lucy was just a few days old. We had been out of the Hospital for less than 48 hours and Amy could not find any comfortable position to lay down in and was having trouble sleeping. We called my Dad in the middle of the night and he came over to watch the older kids. I remember it was snowing pretty hard as I drove Amy and Lucy to the hospital at about 2 in the morning. We didn't know whether to keep Lucy with us or keep her at home because she was less than a week old. Once we got to the Hospital they sent me back home with Lucy while they began tests on Amy.

I got back there about an hour later. After a long battery of tests they determined that Amy's heart and kidneys were both working at about a 25% level. They admitted her to the Heart Hospital. I drove home at about 8 a.m. I was devastated, I had had no sleep the night before and I just prayed a ll the way home. 4 years prior I had donated a kidney to a family friend. I was tempted to despair as now I would be unable to donate one to Amy. I wondered how I would possibly be able to raise 3 kids on my own if anything were to happen to Amy. But mostly I was struck with how much I love Amy and how much of who I am is tied into her. I did not understand how I would make it without her in my life.

When I got home I took care of the kids and started calling people for prayer. This was on a Sunday morning. By Thursday Amy was released and both her heart and kidney were at basically 100%. We never got an adequate response as to why the levels had gone down and then gone back up.

What was really strange was that less than a year later my brother was hospitalized with about the same kidney and heart levels as Amy had experienced. Amy and I both expected that his levels would go back up to normal as hers did. Keith's diagnosis was not the aberration that Amy's had been. He died less than 3 years after the condition was found.

I have had other friends and family members pass away from cancer and other illnesses in the past few years. My experience on that ride home in December of 2005 has built an empathy for the relatives, especially spouses of sick, dying and deceased people. Even though my experience with Amy turned out to be only a false alarm, it gave me a glimpse of what others go through.

I am not sure why I am sharing all this. I have been thinking about that time and thought the need to get it out there.

Next Time: WFMW

Differences

Martians are from Mars; Venusians, Venus.

Women are different than men, no duh! But men are different than men and women are different than women. So if I want to understand Amy, I don't need to understand all women and then branch out to Amy. I need to understand Amy, her needs, strengths, and intricacies.

Not sure exactly where I am going with this, except to say that interpersonal relationships are best explored individually rather than holistically. I think I have observed this more keenly because both Amy and I are more atypical than typical representatives of our respective genders.

Example: 12 years ago I bought Amy her engagement ring. I had been friends with Amy for about 7 years and we had discussed rings as friends. I knew she liked Emeralds and wanted an emerald engagement ring rather than a diamond. So I brought her an emerald engagement ring. I then went about telling friends and co-workers of my purchase. They were all sure that I had made a dreadful mistake in not buying her a diamond, or in just not letting her choose the ring she wanted. The only dreadful mistake was bringing the subject up with any of them. It turns out that while Amy's taste in engagement rings was atypical, my knowledge of her preferences was accurate. She loves that ring and I am confident that if I would have succumbed to pressure and purchased a diamond ring for her rather than an emerald all I would have communicated to her is that I did not "get" her as much as I thought I did.

So those are my Six words for this Saturday. To see what other word sextets are sweeping the cybernation head over to Show My Face dot com.

Next Time: Cycling Update

4 Weddings and a funeral. Part III.

Today is Amy's Birthday. I am blessed to have such a wonderful wife. As I mentioned in my last post, we recently viewed our wedding video from way back in 1998. Amy and I had a short engagement, we were engaged in November of '97 and married in April '98. The week after I proposed, I went to Schlotsky's Deli on my lunch break and penned a song to be played at our Wedding. Schlotsky's Deli has long since closed, but our marriage still lives on, as does the song. Yes I did get the title from the song from the movie Jerry Maguire. Remember this song is a mission statement not a memo.

You Complete Me

Left my ego at the altar

Left my pride out in the pew

God has brought us both together

And he gives us love that's true

It feels so much like a movie

Best of friends who fell in love

As we walk this aisle together

I can feel His blessings from above

Chorus:

You are mine

I am yours

We are His

We have never been our own

One Flesh

One Love

One Family

You complete me

You complete me

God has made us for each other

As he's made us for Himself

I will love you when there's sickness

I will love you when there's health

There's a love that lasts forever

There's a love that's life it gives

It is founded in the Father

By it we know we are His

Chorus:

You are mine

I am yours

We are His

We have never been our own

One Flesh

One Love

One Family

You complete me

You complete me

Bridge:

Struggles come more often than the mail

We are weak, we know that we will fail

God gave us grace to help each other through

He sent us His Spirit

To guide us in whats true

Chorus:

You are mine

I am yours

We are His

We have never been our own

One Flesh

One Love

One Family

You complete me

You complete me.

Happy birthday Babe. You are so up!

Next Time: Six word Saturday meets Seven Word September.

A weekend of longing

Trips are made for coming home.

My wife is gone this weekend. She left yesterday to spend a long weekend with a dear friend. They are celebrating 30 years of friendship (They met as sonograms). They are in Arkansas enjoying the Hot Springs. If this was a Jane Austen novel they would have awayed to Bath.

I think they call it a long weekend because how much I long for her. I am glad that she is able to spend time with a dear friend. They have been planning the trip for almost a year. I really like my Wife. There I said it. She is my best friend, and I miss her when she's gone. She misses me too at least that's what her texts say.

Don't get me wrong the kids and I are not gloomy Eyore's with a perpetual storm cloud lingering above. Today we had a play date with another home school family (Lucy's best friend) and celebrated the last day of National Ice Cream month by having fifty cent cones at Colonial Cafe. The carnival is back in town so we should hit that tomorrow. Still,we all miss Amy and we will all be super glad when she comes home.

I have often heard it said the best thing about going on a trip is coming home. Amy, I am so glad you have a loving family to come home to, and that we have you! Have a great trip and see you Sunday!

To see what other six word sentiment is out there head over to Show My Face dot com.

Next Time: In Which I Say a Bad Word

A handful of salt when a pinch will do

So as for yesterdays post, many of you may be wondering. Why did you dedicate that song to Amy, when you were only friends. Well mainly because our friendship was the perfect blendship (There's a Broadway song there for the taking, it's so good you could use it on Brady Bunch). But particularly because Amy gave me the title for the song. I would often get 3-4 letters a week from Amy, when I was in Russia. I would send her about the same in return. Again for those playing at home, this would be a clear indication that there was something deeper than friendship growing. Amy and I weren't getting that vibe. We were just writing a lot of letters.

Now, I, over the years, have had many "friendships" with girls that I wanted to be more. This was not the case with Amy, I was very satisfied with just being her friend. In fact, my only fear was that someday she might fall in love with me jeopardizing our friendship. I mean, I am the perfect blend of Tom Cruise, Tim Hutton and just a pip of Denzel rolled into one handsome man. I took my fears and made them a joke. I would say things like "no falling in love with me today." when we were driving home for spring break.

Well I am a little off point. But I wanted to give you guys some deep background. Now that we have established are bff status, let me tell you about the letters.

One letter in particular was a symphony of silliness. At the end she waxed poetically about how much she liked me. You're like a handful of salt when a pinch will do, she mused. You're like a rainy day in June. Well I took that sentiment and ran with it, with the song I introduced last post.

Next Time:Last Weekend, This Weekend

Rainy Days in June

I know I promised to continue to blog about my weekend. I will continue with that in a few days. For now the weather outside, albeit not frightful, has dictated my next few posts. I hope you enjoy them.

Amy and I weren't always the mom and pop operation that stands before you today. No, for the first seven years I knew her, we were "just friend's". The thing is, nobody believed it, except us. Everyone fully expected us to get the memo and get married. It is kind of hard to believe, especially when in 1993 I wrote her a love song. Now before you say "you did what?!!?!??!" Let me just say that Amy and I communicated a lot by songs in the early stages of our friendship. Like this little ditty I wrote for her in 1990 or 1991

Amy, as I come to an end to this song.
Please get me right, don't get me wrong.
In baseball's hall of fame you really don't belong
'cause after all you're just a girl.

Now at the time, A League of Their Own had not yet come out, so I was blissfully unaware that Women (or known girls) were already in baseball's hall of fame.

When I was in Russia in 1993, it was early April and I was going to visit one of my students. I was walking to my bus and it was raining. This song came to me which I dedicated to Amy and then recorded for her on my portable cassette player and mailed it off to her.

I didn't think of it as a love song as much as a friendship song although the lyrics I love you are right there. But in dedication to this first rainy day in June and to the best wife a guy could ever be best friends with is that smash of the mid '90s, Rainy Day in June

Rainy days in April almost every day.
Rainy days in April, flowers come in May.
Rainy days in May, they're are still a few
But I love a rainy day in June spent with you

Rainy days in June, baseball gets delayed
If it's really pouring some games don't get played
Though I'd miss my baseball I will tell you true
I prefer a rainy day in June spent with you.

Though you can't predict them like these April showers
And you sure can't pick them like the sweet May flowers
If I could choose my favorite time of year, and the weather too.
I would pick a rainy day in June spent with you.

Aim I miss you dearly
I wish you were nearer
We still get some rain here
Here in sweet Siberia
So when the rain comes falling
In April, May or September
Rainy days in June and you I will remember

(Musical Interlude)

Though you can't predict them like these April Showers
And you sure can't pick them like the sweet may flowers
If I could sing of my favorite time of year and the weather, too
I would sing of rainy days in June spent with you

I love rainy days in June and I love you

(repeats indistinctly)

Next Time: A handful of salt when a pinch will do

Taking Time Off

I am not here right now. I am out celebrating my 11th wedding anniversary a few weeks early. Actually I count that Amy and I have three wedding anniversaries: The actual anniversary is April 11th. We were married the Saturday prior to Easter in 1998. So I always count the Saturday prior to Easter as a second wedding anniversary. Amy was employed as a school psychologist when we were married and we chose our wedding date to coincide with her spring break. So, now that she is employed as a school psychologist again, I count her week of spring break as an anniversary of our wedding and honeymoon.

As you are reading this Amy is on her spring break and that is the anniversary we are celebrating. Extended time alone with Amy is not very common these days. I had no intention of blogging in any way shape or form while she is gone. So I simply am writing this post a week early and scheduling it for the 25th.

Taking some time off with the woman I love works for me. While I will not be linking this post to We Are That Family I encourage you to go there to see what works for others.

Next Time: Science isn't Science 'til you give it away.

A Poem: They drive me crazy sometimes

I, like many people, am a closet poet. That is where my poems remain, in a drawer, next to the closet. From time to time I am going to pull one out of that drawer and share it here. This time to show I am not merely a former poet, I will present one I wrote only hours ago.

They Drive me Crazy Sometimes

She drives me crazy sometimes

Who can win an argument with an amnesiac?

But, no one gets me like she does

She makes our house a haven

And, only laughs when my jokes are funny.

She drives me crazy sometimes

Who made her the third parent, anyways?

But, beneath that bossy boiler

Lies an artist's soul

Skipping and humming. Playful and loving.

He drives me crazy sometimes.

Who can have that many questions about Star Wars?!?

But, he is as adventurous as a pirate.

As giving as Robin Hood.

And as resourceful as Macgyver.

She drives me crazy sometimes

Who wants to be a puppy every single day?

But, she makes cuteness an art form

She's a three year old thesaurus

And she loves to ask God to help people.

They drive me crazy sometimes

But, isn't it worth the trip?

Next Time: A Place for Gloves

Beginnings Part III: Now Where Were We?

The Faqs of Life.

My Life in Frequently Asked Question format.

Today's topic: Now Where Were We?

Q: When did you first meet your wife?

A: In the Fall of 1990. I was active in the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship chapter at Western Illinois University. At our first meeting of the year, Amy was there. I remember talking to her at that meeting.

Q: What were your impressions?

A: I can do a pretty good Bob Dylan singing Amazing Grace.

Q: No, I mean what did you think of her?

A: I thought she was very nice. I remember talking to her about being from Lisle, which is where my Grandparents lived.

Q: What were her first thoughts of you?

A: Before the meeting she had seen me at the Hardees restaurant in the student union. I was in line, wearing a ball cap, stroking my chin and contemplating my order. Her first thought of me, was that I was the kind of guy that would be at the Inter-Varsity meeting she was going to. It turns out she was right.

Q: Did you start dating right away?

A: Oh, no. Unless you count "right away" as 7 years later.

Q: So do I have to ask you 7 years of questions?

A: No, ask how we became friends and I'll lead you home.

Q: How did you become friends?

A: I think it started the next week at our chapter retreat. I was trying to get to know all the new people. However, I had many responsibilities on the retreat. So, I would start a conversation with Amy and Vern Vincent would need to talk to me about the skit we were in or someone else would want to know what time the speaker was coming or some such. I would then go back to Amy and say "now where were we?" She would always say "We weren't anywhere, we hadn't started yet." I thought that was terrifically funny.

Amy, it turns out has a terrific sense of humor honed by many years of teasing her dogs and younger siblings. One Sunday afternoon at Golden Corral after she was done eating, she said she was fuller than a Theological Seminary. Anyone who knows me, and heard that joke, would attribute it to me in a heartbeat.

Q: So you could say it was love at first joke?

A: You could say that, but you'd be wrong.

Q: Now where were we?

A: That's my line. But we were talking about how I first met Amy. We became inseparable friends. Before we could become friends, however, she had to give me an IQ test.

Q: How did you do?

A: Excellent. I kept making jokes. Amy was testing her friends because she was studying to be a school psychologist. I would make jokes during the testing. It was great fun.

Q: With all the time you were spending together did anyone ever try to couple you up?

A: Who didn't? I once had a girlfriend who tried to get us together. We didn't date too long after that.

Q: Why were so many people getting mixed messages about you. It's not like you wrote songs for her.

A: No, I wrote songs about her all the time. But they were mostly to make her laugh on road trips to and from school. I did write her what could be construed as a love song when I was in Russia, but that was more of a friendship song.

Q: Well it wasn't like you bought a ring or anything.

A: Actually, I did that too.

Q: You what?

A: When she lived in Peoria she was working hard to get out of debt. She really wanted to buy herself an emerald ring but could not afford it. The next week on my lunch break I saw a circular that was advertising an emerald ring at a very reasonable price. I really thought that was God's way of telling me to buy her the ring. So, I did.

Q: Well at least you never slipped a putter through her hoop earrings while she was wearing them.

A: What goes on at mini golf stays at mini golf.

Q: So when did things develop romantically? I mean they did develop romantically? This isn't just a green card wedding is it?

A: No, we're legit. In December 1996, I was in South Carolina and she was in Hickory Hills. We used to chat from time to time on AOL. One day I could tell something was troubling her and it came to me like an epiphany. She's in love with me and is afraid to tell me because if she does the friendship won't be the same.

Q: So what did you do?

A: Over a long chat I coaxed it out of her. When she finally typed it. It had a tremendous impact on me.

Q: What kind of impact?

A: The closest thing I can compare it to is my conversion experience. I was sitting there, thinking this is my best friend, what would I do without her. Then it was like the lights went on and I realized this is more than my best friend this is the woman I want to share the rest of my life with.

Q: What happened next?

A: I visited Chicago a week later with the purpose of seeing whether Amy and I might be more than friends. I went to church with her and was grilled by some of the high school students she worked with. You know a girl is serious about you when she sicks Amanda Lesmeister and company on you.

We decided to make a go of it. During her spring break she visited me. After that week, I knew. I mean when someone shouts "hey, love interest" to you on Stone Mountain, you know. The week after she left, I put an emerald engagement ring on lay-a-way. She had always told me she wanted an emerald engagement ring. This one was no mere token of friendship.

In July of '97 I moved back to Illinois, In November I proposed,and we were married April 11,1998.

Q: Is there a place people could go to read more about how people fell in love, and perhaps post their own story?

A: They could click here and be sent to the Share your Love Story page at Heavenly Homemakers.com

Next Time: For Reluctant Writers

Secret Surprise Dates

FAQS of Life



My life in "frequently asked question" format.



Today's Topic: Secret Surprise Dates


Q: What, pray tell, is a Secret Surprise Date?

A: A secret surprise date is a festival of fun wrapped in romance. It's the pinata of date nights.

Q: What does that mean in English?

A: When Amy and I were courting, we went on some elaborately planned dates. We coined the phrase "Secret Surprise dates" to describe them.

Q: Do they have to be secret?

A: No, the other party knows the date is going to happen and who the date is with. They just don't know what is going to happen.

Q: I am still not wrapping my mind around the concept, could you give an example?

A: Yes.

Very funny! I'm waiting!

When I lived in South Carolina, I used to frequent a donut chain by the name of Krispy Kreme. Now, when I came back to Illinois to court and subsequently marry Amy, they did not have any Krispy Kremes in the Chicago area. When Amy heard that one had come to the area, she blindfolded me and drove me to the Krispy Kreme. I was so shocked when I got out of the car and breathed in the aroma of the Mecca of donuts. This was truly a secret surprise!

On another occasion, I blindfolded Amy and drove around for an hour finally stopping at the Hinsdale Oasis of the Illinois Tollway System 10 minutes from our apartment. There we sat,ate dinner, and watched the traffic drive beneath us.

Q: Are blindfolds mandatory?

A: No, but they can add quite a bit to the overall effect.

Q: Are Secret Surprise Dates expensive?

They can be, but don't have to be. The Krispy Kreme date cost less than 10 dollars. Last Saturday night, I drove Amy about an hour north of our house to a nice restaurant just over the Wisconsin border. We had great conversation on the way there and back and an excellent all-you-can-eat meal in a quaint atmosphere. The entire cost of the evening including babysitting was under $50.00.

Q: I am more of a visual person, do you have any pictures from these excursions?

A: Yes.

Q: You are not pulling that joke again, are you?!!!

A: Yes. Before you get all upset, here is a picture of Amy outside the restaurant on Saturday night.

Q: So, it sounds like Secret Surprise dates work for you, is that accurate?

A: It certainly is. They really help us to keep the fun alive in our relationship. To see what works for other people click here to be directed to the Works for me Wednesday site at Rocks in my Dryer.

Next Time: Randomness