It’s been feeling like fall around here for a while now. We had a bit of an Indian Summer at the end of last week and the beginning of this one, but we’re definitely in fall. The trees are changing colors rapidly. Due to the drought we’ve had up this way, they seem to be going quickly from green to brilliant color, then falling off all within a few days’ time. A storm we desperately needed dumped two inches of rain on us and blew most of the leaves that had already changed color off of the trees. Some of the maps are showing we’re already past peak color, which could be. I’m looking at the oak trees outside my window and still seeing green.

Our COVID numbers still aren’t bad up this way. Our total cases are 123 with 2 deaths. My granddaughter was sent home from school today with a sore throat. We’re still waiting for the COVID results, but her strep test came back positive, and it’s rare for someone to have both COVID and strep throat. The hospital didn’t even want to do the COVID test after the strep test but the school requires it for her to be allowed back (which won’t happen until Monday now).

I have to go to Florida next week on business (in the Panhandle). I’m more worried about being there than the flight. I’ll wear a mask the whole time I’m down there, but I still worry about being around other people not wearing their own masks.

Tomorrow is my 27th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe. I never thought I’d be married that long. We usually don’t make a big deal out of it. Most of the time we’ve been apart on this day. A couple of times I was a judge at Woodsmen’s Day at the Fryeburg Fair (which was one of the casualties of COVID this year). The last time we tried to do something special was 2017. We went to Las Vegas together. I’d been there before with my friends and I thought my husband might enjoy it. We walked around a bit, but he ended up staying in our timeshare watching TV most of the time. Other than the classic car display at the Linq, he really wasn’t interested. The night before our actual anniversary, I had gotten tickets for Ka. I really enjoyed the Cirque du Soleil show I saw with my friends, Love.

Well, Ka was good. We were at the 9:30 PM show and when the show was over we were told we weren’t allowed out of the theater due to there being an active shooter on The Strip. After about an hour, we were allowed out of the theater but remained locked down in the MGM Grand until about 2:30 in the morning. Most of the restaurants had closed, but Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House decided to stay open and gave people pitchers of water and cornbread. While other places were chasing people out of their seating areas, Emeril’s was hospitable.

It was awful. There were people who had ended up in the MGM Grand after running from the shooting at the Country Music Festival. One person said he saw the guy next to him take a bullet to the head and collapse. I knew the early casualty numbers we were hearing were going to go up. I decided I’d never celebrate our anniversary again anywhere but a local restaurant.

I left a post on Facebook to make sure everyone knew we were fine and texted people at home so that when they heard the news the next morning they’d know we were okay. My one friend said she woke up and heard the news, and her first thought was “Well there’s no way Patti and Marc would be at a country music festival” before she even saw any Facebook posts. I had been at the Mandalay Bay earlier that day, wandering around looking for something to do by myself. It had been exceptionally quiet, likely due to the concert going on outside. I had thought about going to the aquarium there, but the admission price was pretty steep. I remember leaving Vegas on a plane a couple days later and still seeing the curtains swaying in and out of the window the shooter shot from.

I’ve had to let a lot go in 27 years. We found our way by giving each other the space we need. I have more wanderlust – he’s more a homebody and that’s okay now. I’m more active and into outdoor activities while he’d just rather watch television, so we each do what makes us happy. I can’t tell anyone how to have a good marriage – it’s just figuring out what works for you in your situation.