MY View

BY JOHN McLOONE

Life is good!

By the end of this week, I will have made another trip around the sun.

I did the math. I carried a few ones, and by my calculation this was trip number 58.

I’m not telling you this for acknowledgement. It’s just going to be another day at the office. My darling bride celebrates her birthday the day before, so I’m going to be celebrated out by the time Friday rolls around. I won’t say too much about her big day either, because no one would believe she’s going to be the BIG 6-0 anyway!

Since the day she finally got the courage to ask me on a date (yes, I am old fashioned), everyone has always thought she was considerably younger than me. Someone saw a picture of the two of us recently and asked if that was her dad in the photo. Maybe I should start dyeing my hair, what little there is anyway. I guess why bother? I’m already married and not looking for someone new to ask me out.

I am at the age, however, where I’ve started to realize how precious life is. Last week, my wife had the week off of work, and she accompanied me on my many missions. Together, we drove about 1,500 miles. We got to spend a lot of time with our grandchild, so she’ll chauffeur my anywhere if there’s a chance of that. She waited for me during a few government meetings, and I even made her attend one. She couldn’t believe how glorious my job is. We hit the road Monday and got home about 11 p.m. We made a round of post offices delivering papers at 4 a.m. Wednesday. On Thursday, she got to run a few errands while I was in meetings, and then we did unwind from our travels at a couple local wineries scattered around the countryside. I’m not much for wine, but I was most amazed by the fact that at neither of them did I have even one bar of service on my phone. Maybe that’s intentional, and if it is, it’s a good thing. It was nice to take in the surroundings in such wonderful company. Those were my wife’s words!

On Friday, I travelled to a memorial service for newspaper publishers who passed away in the last year. Saturday, my driver was back at it again, and we journeyed to a family wedding. Sunday, we stopped so my wife could visit a member of her family who was hospitalized.

The week put life in perspective, especially at our stage of it. Our kids are officially grown and – for the most part – out of the nest. They’re fending for themselves. We’re at the point now where we have to entertain each other. She gets the better end of that deal, because I can be very entertaining, just ask her after spending about 30 hours in the car with me last week.

I’m looking forward to the next year. Life is good!