Today, Terry and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. What a fun and wild ride it has been. For several years now, we have discussed what we would like to do to mark the occasion and we decided to take a big trip. I thought about visiting the United Kingdom again. Terry has never been and I would love to add Scotland, Wales and Ireland to my list of places visited. Or possibly even one of these European river cruises. An easy way to visit medieval towns while not have to worry about driving or dining. Well, a global pandemic shut that idea down. In our minds, the next best place int the world to be…Elizabethton. It has been almost a year since I have seen Grandmother Ginny and Phyllis and two years since Terry and I were there together. We were many hugs behind. It was a whirlwind weekend of laughs and lots and lots of food.
Our first night together, Grandmother and Phyllis took us to the Black Olive in Elizabethton. It used to be called Primo’s but they changed their name, menu and moved their restaurant a few stores down from their original location. It was so wonderful and weird being out eating in public after so many months of confinement.
A few surprise anniversary gifts awaited our return from dinner. Grandmother Ginny gave us a gorgeous Simon Pearce square cut, glass pitcher while Phyllis gave us a colorful, ceramic dragonfly. Before I even had the opportunity to open her gift, she blurted out, “It’s a bug…for your garden!!” We were all so stunned by this uncharacteristic outburst that we broke down in hysterical laughing.
Sweet card with Simon Pearce, Woodbury glass pitcher.
Friday evening, Grandmother, Terry and I met Phyllis, Olivia and her boyfriend Jonah at Longhorn Steak in Johnson City. Upon seeing each other, Olivia and I did the slow-motion, running through a flowery meadow run across the parking lot until we collapsed in mighty hugs and joyous laughter.
Yup…more food. Olivia joined us for our last meal together Saturday night at Applebee’s
