**crickets chirping**

When Gene and I got married, we went to our pre-marital counseling as required. Personally, I enjoyed it because I love the big lug so much. Gene on the other hand, kind of dragged his feet. "Can't we just find someone that won't require it?"

"No. I want Tim to do it."

"Grrr"

So every couple weeks, we'd meet up with Tim and talk about relationships. Tim would ask a few questions about each other, about family, about our desires for the future and most of the time we were pretty much on the same page.

One of the questions was about what the other really "needed" in life. Color me shocked when Gene wrote down that I needed alone/quiet time. I'd never said this to him, I suppose he picked it up on his own. Maybe it was all that time hidden away in my scrapbook room he figured it out. ;P

After 2 weeks of small people, large people, weddings (4 weeks), heat, noise, etc etc etc. I needed peace.

Quiet.
Solitude.
Zen.

Yet, I wanted to "do something" on Sunday. Just Gene and I. He suggested we drive all the way to Des Moines and go antiquing, but I wasn't really feeling a long car ride and a lot of walking. Instead, I suggested a trip to my hometown (20 minutes away), a trip to the lake with a picnic and the opportunity to shoot photos "not people".

On our way out of the lake, we decided to go on a big of an explore and took an off road. Quiet and hidden. We weren't supposed to be there, but the pull was too great. Plus it was Sunday, no one was going to be slapping us with a ticket on a Sunday.

At the end of that road, it lead is right back into the lake, where the sign read "no motorized vehicles beyond this point". Ooops.

My only other requirement for the day was a stop at my childhood ice cream place for a peanut butter malt (not a shake). We sat out in the shade getting brain freeze and petting the neighborhood cat.

It's moments like this that make me want to move back to my podunk hometown.

All because of peace. Quiet. Solitude. Zen. It's a little like moving back to 1974, but in a good way. But the downside is that it's maybe a little too close for comfort to people from my past, so I'll stick with my 2 acres in BFE.