Honeymoon Retirement Adventure

With a title like this there could easily be three stories, and that's just the beginning of the journey.  There's no telling where this story will end.  I retired nearly five years ago and Jack joined me March 1.  So we are now learning to live together night and day.

The road to Wisconsin, our first official retirement trip and where our son,his wife, and our grandson live, led us to Iowa City for our first night, and a surprise

To the Good Life.

celebration.  Dinner began at the Iowa River Power Restaurant with a toast to our new life together.  The waitress looked inquisitive.  Looking up at her,  I cheerfully explained , "We're on our Honeymoon Retirement trip, so this is a toast to us and the trips to come."

In silence she studied the two of us, looked out the window at the ice capped river that was rushing by, and implored, "You came here to celebrate your honeymoon retirement trip?"  To which Jack and I burst forth in genuine laughter. She continued,  "What brought you here to Iowa City?"  Together, we looked at each other and then up at our waitress in replied in unison, "A man."


We'd both recalled another dinner when a journey began with our move to Hutchinson, KS from Norman, OK.  One evening on a cold winter's night when the snow blew sideways, we ate dinner at Amarillo's Bar and Grill in Hutchinson.  While at the bar waiting on an open table, the young bartender chatted with us about living in a small town like Hutch.  We explained that we moved from Norman with a least 80,000 people many of whom where quite young, and oh, so much younger than the population here.  This led her to ask in a rather incredulous voice, "What brought you to Hutch?"

From our waitress, who seemed to understand that life is a journey.

Jack stepped back, with the fingers of his right hand began pointing at his chest, while the grin grew on his face, "A man," he replied.  "A man brought her to Hutch.  I brought her to Hutch!"  And that is why we laughed.

Like any adventure this night was just the beginning.  Stay tuned as the story unfolds.