Thursday, January 25, 2024

Milestones

I was thinking about life's milestones today. Turning 16 and being able to drive is a big one, probably the first really big one. That's followed closely by age 18, voting, and 21, drinking. Graduation from your final level of education varies quite a bit, but most folks wrap that up within their first quarter century or soon thereafter. It's already apparent that many of life's milestones are front loaded and happen rather quickly, even though time seems to move slowly in those years. 

For many people the next ones are marriage, children, and then getting through all those milestones with their children. It's hard to pick out a lot of other significant, widely shared, life events in the ensuing adult years; maybe we are just supposed to make them up on our own so we have something to celebrate. In that spirit, I'd like to announce that we had one today when Clay went to the bank and paid off our mortgage!

This old house, home sweet home, be it ever so humble, is now all ours. It needs some work but I hope to start tackling some of those projects in this year. Prior to being able to legally marry, the most binding long term commitment we had in our lives was our joint mortgage. That's gone now, but I think our relationship (going on 28 years now) can stand on its own.

The pictures are nothing special, just a couple of recent walks with Della and Bailey.


Bailey, tracking birds or squirrels in the trees.





We do not get past this spot without stopping for a good sniff.






2 comments:

Risa said...

Mazel tov! Jeff & I just paid off our mortgage too. On to the home repairs!

Scott Rothe said...

Congratulations. Ten years ago I took great pleasure telling my boss I no longer had a mortgage -- or debt of any kind, then let it sink in. For decades, sometimes the only thing that spurred me to get up and go to work was the mantra "Got to pay the mortgage." I continued to work my butt off (because that's how I roll), but I no longer responded to meanness. My revised mantra became "You need me more than I need you." The next few years before I retired were much more tolerable. Enjoy!