I’ll be spending the weekend in Memphis! Our main reason for the trip is my husband’s six-month appointment with his ear specialist–a follow-up to surgery he had a few years ago–but hey! It’s Memphis! And since it takes us seven hours to drive there, we allow ourselves time to play before we go home.

We’ve done most of the tourist stuff–Graceland, yeah, three times! The Pink Palace Museum (home to the founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain, who went bust and left this magnificent home unfinished…) is a favorite place, too, and we’ve sprung for horse-drawn carriage rides, leaving from the legendary Peabody Hotel and touring the moonlit streets. And of course we’ve seen the Peabody ducks countless times, before ducking down the alley across the way to eat BBQ at the Rendezvous.

So this weekend? Well, we always look for some good live music on Beale Street. But our special gig this time will be celebrating our 35th anniversary with a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, the Mesquite Chop House, just up the street from the Peabody. Yeah, I know–we did a 15-day Panama Canal cruise in May to celebrate that–

But THIRTY-FIVE YEARS. I’m tellin’ ya…there are guys in my past who swore I wouldn’t make it to a first anniversary, no matter WHOM I married!

And my parents even suggested I elope to save them the expense and embarrassment of a church wedding they felt would be, well–another mess to clean up, since Neal had lost his job while we were engaged. He returned to grad school rather than getting another job–horror of horrors!–and they just knew I’d grow tired of supporting him on my meager teaching salary.

So now? Neal and I raise a glass every year to the way we proved them all WRONG! Kinda brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?!

Wishing YOU a wonderful weekend, too!