As I was working out on the elliptical machine at 5:30AM the other morning at the YMCA watching CNN news, I was “pondering” and listening to a story on some miraculous research that some medical genius had come up with recently.  He/she had studied people with lots of money and their “true” happiness.  I didn’t catch it all, but in the end it boiled down that in this research some “rich people” had narrowed their material items to only 100 items of their choice, making their life simpler and turned to enjoying their family and experiences more by doing this.  They started taking vacations and enjoying the world and, again, experiences, more than material things.   I apologize for not catching the whole story but think that was the jest of it.  Simplicity was a big part of the change in their lives.  

My husband kind of has a philosophy on retiring, that it's harder on those people who quit working who had not done anything outside of work prior to retirement and try to take it all up at retirement, such as volunteering in your community, golf, learning a new hobby, etc.  He's always been a busy person, always done community work, always played golf, loves learning something new, along with being a great dad, working and his life in the military.  I somewhat agree with him.  

Buck and I had been on vacation for about 9 days and had quite a stack of mail but when I got to this certain letter, I just stared at it.   I knew without even opening it what it was about.  I knew I should have been expecting it but my knees already went weak, my stomach hurt and I was close to tears before reading it.  It was from my Pastor. 

Boy, this is a first for a very long time. Buck and I took a road trip - a long road trip.  Buck was asked to perform the wedding service of a very special great niece in West Virginia and I said "Let's drive!". We have flown wherever we've gone for the entire time we've been together, as we always have to get back to work. So we decided no interstates, smaller roads, scenic routes, take our time, and enjoy the ride.

Well, most of it was exactly like that.  We took Highway 50 almost all the way, and stopped at small towns. The scenery in Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia and on into Maryland was amazing (I really want to go back in the fall).  We stayed at military bases and that is such a privilege and wonderful experience each time we're able to stay at base housing.  I burst with pride every time when Buck hands the young, very serious guard at the gate his ID and the guard steps back salutes and says "Welcome Colonel, have a nice stay."  Again, we feel very privileged, as we do with all the benefits the military provides us.