Comin' up on 30...

...on a cool,rainy mid-August day in 1980, My Sweet Baboo and I began this wonderful adventure called marriage. Thirty years of growing together needs a little celebration; unfortunately, we really didn't know how to celebrate. We decided to take a couple of days off from work for a getaway to...somewhere...to make a celebration.

Lots of friends said we should go on a cruise...but, well, being inclined to motion sickness, a cruise just doesn't sound like something I really want to do. Not to mention we really only have a couple of days anyway.

I wanted to go the beach, but it's a good 7+ hour drive; we can't leave until early afternoon. It just seemed pointless to drive for a total of 14 hours in two days to spend one day on the beach...we needed something closer to home.

So we began to investigate state parks in the area; we've gone to state parks for quick getaways over the years and most usually enjoyed ourselves...although the food has ranged from The Worst Restaurant Food Ever to Just Pretty Good, and I really would like a nice dinner for our anniversary.

We had just about settled on going to Cheaha, despite the fact that I was a bit disappointed by the dining menu options. While the price for the room was pretty good, and the park itself looked lovely, I really wanted an anniversary dinner that was a little more uptown than fried catfish and hush puppies.

Then, for some reason, I remembered something someone said about a bed and breakfast place near Pisgah, AL, and hunted around until I found Gorham's Bluff.

Oh.My.Goodness.

Compared to the State Park, this place is pretty pricey...but, compared to last year's 'Lisa's Turning 50' overnight trip to Opryland, it wasn't so bad. Then I saw the dining options...including the 'Chef's Table' option, in which the chef consults with the clients personally to design a memorable meal.

Now that's a 30th Anniversary Dinner!

But, wow, all that ain't cheap. And we've been covering bills for The Artist because his part-time jobs all sort of evaporated. Cash is tight.

I wished I hadn't gone looking for the place.

But, the more I looked at the website, the more I liked what I saw. We're not fancy folks, but it just looked like a neat place to poke around and be together. Bikes, hiking, swimming...but it just couldn't happen.

Then, I happened to remember something...

Back in the day, employees at the engineering firm my hubby worked for were, um, strongly encouraged to participate in a buy-US-Savings-bonds program. So we participated, getting bonds in our name and also some that were POD to each of the kids. We had cashed out some of the older kids' to help fund their time in Master's Commission, but I wasn't sure what the status was on our bonds. I asked my dear hubby about them, but he said he didn't think we had anything at the moment. I couldn't *remember* cashing any of them, but, well, I'm not always aware of these things. I resigned myself to a few days at a state park, and made some tongue-in-cheek comments about it on Facebook.

Pastor D. came by my office yesterday and said that he and his wife had been laughing at my posts. I told him what was going on, and he said, 'Yeah, I know what you mean. We splurged for our 30th, too. You should go for it!' Then, he surprised me as he headed down the hall,'We'll just pray that God makes a way for you!'

It wasn't half a hour later that My Sweet Baboo called and said that he decided to check on our savings bonds and found that we had a number of bonds at maturity; easily enough to cover a couple of nights and at least one fabulous meal at Gorham's Bluff. We agreed that if ever there is an event worth dipping into some savings for, it is an anniversary ending in zero...especially since we didn't do anything to celebrate our 25th, having just bought a house in the summer of '05.

So, we've got one of the lodge rooms reserved and the two older kids set to cover the home front for us and we're going!!

Can you see my smile?? :-D