Who would have known that a couple years later we would be living apart - me in Virginia and him as a Yankee in Pittsburgh?! Definitely not us and I'm pretty sure none of those aforementioned 250. Regardless here we are, and I think we've done a pretty darn good job with this long-distance marriage thing thus far. It is pretty exhausting to tell the story when you meet someone new and the question inevitably comes up "where are you from". We had started just randomly picking PGH or C'ville, but then the questions keep coming such as "oh if you're a doctor then you must work at UPMC", or "engineering is sure tough to find a job for around here- where do you work". So we've given up. But as we explain the story I always smile and am proud to think of how our marriage has grown despite our miles apart. Over the past year, particularly, we've gotten very good at communicating - though it is forever a work in progress. I think that has to do with how little time we have to chat, so when we do chat it's pretty silly to have conversations like:
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, why do you think something is wrong?"
"Nothing, why do you think something is wrong?"
"Just tell me. Did I do something?"
"No - nothing's wrong"
Maybe that's just us and no other couples have ever had a conversation like that? Anyway, our communication has improved, and I think overall we appreciate each other a lot more. Our times together have become more precious, and we have gotten pretty good about milking each second out of the days we're together and making them count. And ultimately, we've learned to rely first on God for our happiness, and learn the all important lesson that while marriage is wonderful, that alone can't give you fulfillment. God must be there.
This weekend we traveled to the little town of Bedford, Pennsylvania to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. The weekend was perfect and let me tell you why:
First of all, I had the pleasure of driving 3.5 hours through country roads dotted with barns and cows to get there. There's really not much more that makes me happy than a country drive (unless I get nauseated with Stuart driving - that hasn't changed unfortunately). It also turns out that Bedford is a pretty historic little place. George Washington himself camped out here and led troops against the whiskey rebellion at a tavern in town. And then a few decades later it was discovered there were 7 mineral springs in the town, and folks from all over came here for healing - including James Buchannan who used it as a summer home. Eventually someone decided big bucks could be made off these springs, and a resort was built. Many years down the road, here we are.
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| Stu taking in the view from our front porch. That's a pen, not a cigar. |
We didn't plan too much for the weekend, and it's probably a good thing we didn't because there wasn't too much at the resort we could afford!!! But to start out when we got there Friday afternoon we were whisked away to a cooking demonstration with one of the chefs from the award winning hotel kitchen! His name was Sam and he talked us through onion bisque, lamb chops with a blueberry reduction sauce, and bananas foster. We were a little bummed that we didn't get to cook ourselves, but when he handed over the samples and some champagne, we didn't feel as bad about it. Of course he threw in some good kitchen knowledge (properly chopping, cleaning a skillet the right way, why you throw away the hard ends of garlic), and we had a great time! Other than the cooking class, we mostly walked around the resort and pretended to be quite fancy like everyone else there.
We also took some time to go on a fairly lengthy hike around the springs. Definitely wasn't a tough hike, but I'll call it lengthy because we wore flip flops and polos and didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.
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| Path from the resort across the road to the spring trail |
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| Spring #1, and as long as I could hold my shutter speed without shaking the camera |
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| Fortunately Stu didn't get too close because this one was supposed to have "laxative properties". |
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| Look at this friend we found! |
Othewise we explored the cute downtown. Definitely not a bustling metropolis, but had some fun offerings including an Alpaca store (not sure what all was in that one) and a candy shop where we got some chocolates and ran into a nice lady from (wait for it - ) Mobile, AL! We managed to wait to get back to the hotel room before we ate the chocolate, but unfortunately ate it in bed and squooshed a little into the fancy pillow shams. Oops!
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| The resort, with our building off to the right |
Then last night we had quite a treat! Do you remember when we celebrated our first anniversary in Natchez, MS and had this delicious fancy dinner with total strangers (link here)? Well, we did it again!!!! Unfortunately this time we did not meet someone semi-famous, but it was still great. We met 10 other people - some locals and some visiting - in this store front for a traditional Italian dinner. The store sells imported olive oils and pastas by day, then once a week the owner cooks dinner for whoever makes a reservation. You sit "family style" at a big table, and he brings the dishes out one by one and explains them to you. First we had local tomatoes and fresh basil on a crostini with 15-year aged Balsamic vinegar. Following was a pasta dish with plenty of good olive oil and a pesto made out of zucchini flowers. Next was an oven-roasted chicken quarter with a summer vegetable ratatouille. This was followed by a cheese plate and then the grand finale was sorbet of summer berries. It was awesome! And the best part is that we made fast friends with a lot of great couples - all at least 40 years older than us. It was a great time. Somehow we have to find more dinners like that.
Unfortunatey the weekend had to come to an end. But now that I'm on a clinic month we'll have many more weekends to spend together. And here's to many more years of marriage!
