Love and Romance After 36 Years

The 28th was our 36th anniversary. I came home from work with an upset tummy--went straight to bed, and to sleep. Not much romance there.
Last night we went out to eat, to celebrate belatedly. Wick & I have been on a low carb diet since New Year's Day, and have been doing well--blood sugar down for both of us, both losing weight and inches, both feeling good, more energy. So where did we go? Did we stay on our diet? Of course not!
We went to On the Border, and had Margaritas and Tex-Mex. We both love Margaritas--in fact, Wick ordered plans from an on-line site for building our very own Margarita machine this summer. Now, I am restricted to only two or three drinks--not because he is controlling, or because I have such self-restraint--no, it is because I am a cheap date. I am drunk after three drinks. So Of course, I ordered the large Margarita, which is the size of a small bird bath. I swigged it down like I was dying of thirst, and gave myself brain freeze. Oh my goodness, it tasted sooooooooo good! We ate nearly three baskets of chips with salsa, and ordered huge platters of food. We had really looked forward to this meal, to eating all the things we have not eaten for 3 months.
Unfortunately, after three months of low carb eating, we just can't eat the way we used to. After all those tortilla chips, we couldn't finish our meal. We had even planned to order a dessert (just one, to split--after all, we *are* on a diet), but since we couldn't even finish the empanadas, beans, rice, cheese enchiladas, chile relenos, etc., we passed on the chocolate fudge brownie sundae. Sigh.
We held hands on the way home, and talked about sitting out on the boat dock and looking at the stars. We also talked about our honeymoon.
We started out with a one-bedroom apartment, the bed and dresser that had been in my room at my parents' house, and twenty cans of cream style corn--Ten cans for a dollar, what a deal, how could you pass that up?
We went to San Antonio for one night. We ate at a Chinese restaurant--a *Chinese* restaurant, in *San Antonio*, where there are dozens of great Tex-Mex restaurants. What were we thinking?
Not about food, obviously. After we left the Chinese restaurant (I had never been to one, or eaten Chinese food before), we went to the Alamo, the zoo, and downtown San Antonio. then, because we had practically no money, we went to a grocery store, bought a package of bologna, a loaf of bread, and a jar of mayonaise, and went back to our motel room to watch old movies on t.v.
We had to leave the next day to go home, because we couldn't afford for Wick to miss a day of work. We pretty much lived on love, which was a good thing, because all I knew how to cook were scrambled eggs, and steak. Wick only liked fried eggs, with runny yolks, and we couldn't afford steak, so .... I had to learn to cook. Once, I boiled a roast. Another time, I cooked a pot of beans but didn't put in any salt or seasoning. So it was back to bologna sandwiches, while I read cookbooks and did science experiments in our tiny kitchen. I learned to make a tuna noodle casserole that would feed six people--unfortunately, I couldn't find six people who liked it. I made a salmon in cream sauce that was poured over buns; the neighborhood cats haunted our trash can for weeks afterward.
Fortunately, Wick already knew how to cook, and he managed to keep us fed until I managed to find six recipes that were edible. That's one for every day of the week, almost--That seventh day, we had hot dogs.
romance? oh yeah.....my husband can be truly romantic. Once, he ran me a bath with bubble bath in it, dried me with warm towels (fresh from the dryer), and when we went into the living room, I found it lit with myriad candles, a quilt spread on the floor, and wine already poured. So what if the wine glasses were plastic, and the quilt was necessary because the house we were living in and building at the same time only had subflooring, no carpet?
When the man I love takes my hand, I feel 16 again, and head over heels in love.
Sorry for the mushy stuff, but after all, we have managed to stay together for 36 years, and that is reason enough for celebration.