Update

Thanks to all for Happy Anniversary wishes.  I just thought you’d all get a kick out of knowing how we actually spent the day.

After church we headed out to the coast of Maine.  Some years ago — both kids were still living at home — we had lunch at a very nice restaurant right on the coast, next to a lighthouse.  It was a grey, rainy day, so the surf was up, and smashing against the rocks right in front of the restaurant — it was just a great place.  Forty years is a pretty big deal, and I asked Himself if we could go there again.

The restaurant is no longer there.  In fact, there is no sign that it was ever there.

So we spent the next two hours driving up and down the Maine coast, looking for a nice romantic spot.  Now, keep in mind that I have not had breakfast, either, since I wanted to receive Communion, so I’m about to faint from hunger — but we both wanted some place with good food and good atmosphere.  Finally, around 2:30, Himself says, “The heck with it — let’s just go to that ’50s diner out by Sunshine!”

“That ’50s diner” is the kind of place that was everywhere 50 years ago.  Chrome chairs with those tacky bright-red plastic seat covers that ripped hopelessly the second they came into contact with a child’s shoe buckle.  Chrome tables topped with formica, into which had been baked futuristic science-fiction emblems like starbursts and rocket ships.  Booths covered in that same tacky red plastic.  It even has a jukebox that plays stuff from the ’50s (and ’60s).

That’s where we had dinner.  Well, the food was good, anyway.  Ah, romance!