Ben & Jen Shepard

I have been meaning to write this series for a very long time.  Because Ben and I are currently at a crossroads in our lives, the time seems right to finally finish it.  Crossroads tend to make you take stock of things, analyze your life and put things in a different order than they were in when circumstances were mundane.  Crossroads are also a place where you have to make a choice.  I am hoping that by looking back, remembering what it is I love most, I will find strength to make the right choices for our future.

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Sometimes last minute plans turn out to be way better than anything you could have tried to arrange over the course of weeks.   Normally I would never admit to this, being the highly ordered planner that I am.  (I admit that I have actually added something I’ve already done to my to-do list just for the satisfaction of crossing it off.)  But the weekend we spent celebrating our 2 year anniversary was undeniable evidence that spontaneous can be far more fun than itineraries.  On a bit of a whim, we signed up for a wine tour, made last minute reservations at a Bed & Breakfast and escaped into the country for a weekend all to ourselves!

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I’ve said before how much I love it when my parents come out for a visit.  This weekend was another wonderful example of why.  New York is beautiful in the Fall, I must admit.  The brisk weather, sweaters and scarves, the rich colors are irresistible.  The weather cooperated with us for the most part, and I even took Monday off to extend the weekend.  It was  perfect weekend to spend with my family!

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Well, it’s October.  That means it’s time to winterize stuff.  The motorcycle, the lawn mower, my parents.  Mom and Dad will be heading to Florida for the impending doom…I mean winter.  Sadly, that means that they will have to find another home for one of their cats, Dandelion.  Don’t be fooled by the name.  He’s no flower.  If you’re a sissy then he’s not the cat for you.  However, if you can bench more than 70 pounds and wear a lot of leather, then you’ve met your match.  Dandelion, albeit a tad rough around the edges, is friendly and enjoys the company of humans.  He loves to be pet and will always greet you at the door with a hello and a hefty shove to the knee area which is his version of a welcome home rub.

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Ben and I are getting close to celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary.  We were married on October 26th, 2007 and I cannot believe how time has flown.  I absolutely love being married and am as excited about our life together as I was on the big day.  I’ve heard it said that the first year is the most important because it lays the groundwork for the rest of the marriage, like concrete solidifying.  I think the second is important because you can start to make habits out of all the things you learned in the first year.  Some of those things that we have learned are…

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I am so proud of my parents!  Last month they celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary.  It is not easy staying married for almost four decades.  It’s even more rare to be married that long and still be in love and best friends with the person you married.  My parents are a living testament that true love does last.

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No one is sure if Helen or the city of Troy ever really existed, but if it did, Margaret George depicts them splendidly in her novel Helen of Troy.  Helen encounters adventure, love, danger, betrayal, all the fixin’s for great drama.  But she does not experience all this simply as a character acted upon, as a passive woman who merely reacts to the outside world over which she has little control.  No, Helen is not like many historical women figures.  Her infamy stems from the fact that she does not just experience betrayal.  She betrays.  She is not merely an object of love, but she chooses love with all of its unforeseeable consequences.  And she does not simply witness the horrors of the most devastating war in ancient history.  She is the cause of it. Read more…

Wanted: replacement for our busted up ‘93 Lincoln TownCar.  Actually, it’s drivable with a few various fixes, but we cannot put any more money into it at this point so it is sitting in our driveway, pretty much unusable.  We’ve been searching for something for about three months now and all the cars that we found and loved are a bit outside our budget of $5,000.  This is not surprising as we both do have excellent taste (eh-hem).  However, Ben is still car-less and that poses a problem in Buffalo, since winter starts in August. Read more…

Tomorrow I head up to Toronto, Canada to spend 9 days working at my company’s annual meeting.  I’ll be running the registration booth, which sounds simple, but like the rest of my job is actually a task made up of a million little details that all have to fall into place at the right time.  None of them sound very exciting by themselves, but put together, the nine to thirteen hour days easily go by in a whirl of specifics and particulars.

This morning I watched Ben sleeping in the dim light of morning, Orange curled up in the blankets next to him, and realized how much I will miss them.  (Romeo was off making some trouble, but I will miss him too.)  Days can feel stretched into months, no matter how filled they are with business, when you have someone to miss.

There are always great memories to bring back, along with souvenirs, from the meetings.  Every year we hold the meeting in a different city, each offering its unique brand of fun after the work part is over.  2006: Honolulu will remain forever treasured in my memory for obvious reasons.  Ten days of meeting events in that tropical wonderland followed by another week vacationing with my mom – three weeks in that beautiful paradise!  Ahhh….

….but back to reality.  2007: Salt Lake City had it’s rough moments, but the mountains were beautiful and time spent at the Library of Geneology looking up family history was fascinating.  2008: Knoxville certainly lacked the glamor of Hawaii, but I had the best slice of pizza in my life there (besides Ben’s homemade, of course).  I have high expectations for Toronto, which is by all standards an international city on par with New York, Paris and London.  We just don’t think of it like that because it is in our backyard, only 2 hours away.  Particularly, I am looking forward to visiting my new favorite bath products store, Lush.  It’s a Canadian company, and there are no store near me, so I have only ordered online.  I highly reccomend the Ice Hotel Bubble Bar.   The other indulgence is a store call Yves Rocher.  Fantastic lotions and my coworker swears by their makeup.  But hey – after nine thirteen-hour days in a row, I think I’ll deserve a little indulgence!

We spent the Fourth of July weekend on a little vacation visiting my parents in Albany – which I LOVE to do!  We hadn’t been there in about six months, which is way too long in my opinion.  Friday we drove into the Adirondacks for an invigorating 5 mile hike up to the summit of Black Mountain.  I’m so proud of my dad for attacking the trek with the enthusiasm of Lewis and Clark.  I was worried about him after his heart attack in November.  But, true to his resilient nature and some conviction about living in the moment, he showed no signs of fatigue the entire way.  The hike was long, but worth it in the end for the spectacular views of Lake Champlain and the surrounding mountains.  Off to the far right we could see miles and miles of country with shafts of sunlight piercing through the layers of clouds, bright and golden, in stark contrast to the solid slate gray sky directly overhead.  Straight out in front of us there was a storm system hovering over the next mountain.  It looked like an opaque white fog, but it was actually heavily falling rain that created a veil over the forest.  And to the left was the southern end of Lake Champlain, winding its way lazily between the mountains.  We had only moments to take all this in before a hard rain ambushed us from behind and we scampered back under the trees for shelter and a quick snack.  It only lasted a few minutes but it did make the descent slippery and tricky to navigate in spots.  I think only on of us ended up with mud on their backside, but we’ll let them keep their dignity.  :  )  I think the entire trek round trip took us about 4 hours.   Once back at the trail head, we left our trusty walking sticks for the benefit of some other adventurers and stripped off muddy socks and shoes by the car.  Sitting down never felt so good.

I can’t visit Albany without making a trip to downtown Saratoga, my favorite little town ever.  We have some friends with a house on Saratoga Lake and they generously shared their Fourth of July party and fireworks show with us.  I laid out on the docks, seeing what my camera coud do with bright flashes of light on a dark sky.  One cool feature on this camera is an exposure setting called Bulb.  It means that you control how long the shutter is open by how long you hold down the button.  This is as opposed to setting the camera to automatically open the shutter for 1/100 of a second or whatever.  So there is lots of freedom to play around and here is what you can do…