June 25th was our 45th anniversary. But because it was also the three month sadiversary of losing Tracy, we expected it, like the other milestones and "firsts" we have had so many of, to be something to endure, not enjoy. Not that we make grand plans for our anniversary, we usually just go out for dinner. But God has arranged some grand plans for us. For our 30th and 35th anniversaries, Reed "happened" to be working on the plane in Cambridge, England. Since his hotel and meals were paid for, we only had to come up with money for my airline ticket and extra food. By our 35th, we could even afford to spend an extra few days sightseeing in Bournemouth and London. Most of the years since then, we have been in Gig Harbor, WA at anniversary time. The annual inspections on a jet Reed works on there "happen" to fall around our anniversary. This has coincided so often that, when we are not in Gig Harbor on our anniversary, we don't know what restaurant to go to in our hometown. The prime rib and seafood restaurant that was our back up plan burned down two years ago. All I could envision for our 45th was the two of us filling our bodies with high priced food and going home with hungry hearts.
Fortunately, our kids (and God) had another plan. Back in January, Will and Britten's families reserved the weekend of Will's June 26th birthday to camp at their church Christian Retreat center at Thompson Lake. They invited us to visit them there. All seven of them were staying in one camper, the camp cabins were reserved months earlier, and a 24 bed bunkhouse did not seem very romantic, still, we decided our 45th was a good reason to spend a couple nights away from home. The campground is situated 45 miles west of Kalispell and 45 miles east of Libby. We had only been to Libby once, many years before, and unlike Kalispell, Libby has affordable hotel rooms in the summertime. We planned to spend our anniversary out at the camp and have dinner in Libby that evening, but our daughter-in-law prepared a special dinner for us of honey garlic shrimp and rice. Not your typical cookout fare. She even brought Martinelli's and plastic goblets for an anniversary toast. I was delighted when the kids gave us a gift basket with a card and, among other things, some of our favorite treats. It wasn't until we got home that I found the other things included a $100 gift card for Montana Club.
And while making sure three preschoolers are not wandering off or mangling themselves or each other is not exactly relaxing, the 6 adults/3 kids ratio was about right. We had lots of time enjoying our kids and theirs in a beautiful setting in nice weather and eating snacks until it was time for the next meal. However, we also enjoyed retreating from the Christian Retreat to the Venture Inn in Libby, showering off the dust of the beach and sleeping in a real bed. An inexpensive inn has always been my idea of camping.
I expected our 45th to be just one more occasion that would have been happy if Tracy had not died, but I was not disappointed to be wrong. As the de facto event planner for both Reed's family and mine, I know nothing special happens without planning. I am thankful for those who made our 45 special.
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