Today is an anniversary for us. Five years ago today we bought the Hideaway, our own house, our first house that belonged to us (and the bank). I lived in a parsonage from 1975 until I retired in 2012. Before that Judy and I lived in rental homes or apartments. My parents never owned a home while I was growing up. So it was a big deal five years ago to go through the search for a retirement home and complete all of the paperwork for a mortgage to get to this point where we were handed the keys to our new home. We drove from the realtor's office, invited Mike and Amy and Maddy over and jumped in the pool. It was chilly that day.

From September through June I drove the 400 miles between Springfield, Illinois and our new home. I got to know the road pretty well, especially dodging all of the road construction in Illinois at the time. We probably bought too big of a house for just the two of us. (Duh, ya think!) But we wanted space for our family and friends to stay when they came to visit us. And Nashville is a great place to visit!

We have come to love this house, and living in Nashville. And Friday night was the Harvest Full Moon, hiding for a moment behind the clouds. And today members of our Sunday School class will celebrate with us, another one of the 50 events that we are using to remember fifty years of marriage. Burgers and brats, and s'mores of course. Life is good. By the way, since we came home from Seattle after visiting our cherished friend, Linda Summers, I've been in that pool 115 out of the last 123 days. Yeah, this is great!