Anniversaries

John and I have now been married 14 years! Wow! Time flies by.
For our anniversary, we went to The Gateway and saw Leatherheads and ate at Z'Tehas. It was a lovely restaurant. The food was lovely; the movie was great! Our kids had a fantastic time at Grandma & Grandpa Phippen's watching a movie while Max spent the evening with April, his favorite daycare provider.

We're lucky! It turns out that being married is hard work, but it's worth it. I never predicted where we'd be at 14 years. When we first started planning, we dreamed we'd have 2 children when we'd been married 5 years... we didn't get our first until we'd been married 6. We dreamed we'd build a big, barn house... we're still in our "starter" home and expect to stay here forever. We dreamed I'd be a stay-at-home-mama... and I'm the insurance, stable job. All of these changes have been a wonderful, circuitous journey.


Ithaca
When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
then pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Do not fear the Lestrygonians
and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.
You will never meet such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your body and your spirit.
You will never meet the Lestrygonians,
the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
that you will enter ports seen for the first timewith such pleasure, with such joy!
Stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,
buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;
visit hosts of Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
and even to anchor at the isle when you are old,
rich with all that you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

-K. P. Kavafis (C. P. Cavafy),