No, I didn’t retire. A wife and mother doesn’t retire. We love our work too much.
However DH(on the right in the first photo) is retiring the day after tomorrow. I was invited to the luncheon. The man they talked about and the innovative things he did for the aerospace industry and especially to help the engineers were all new to me. According to the gentleman giving the talk, he has designed programs that have helped the company be 5-10 years ahead of other aerospace companies. Who knew? He never talked about his work and I am not technically inclined so didn’t ask him about what he did. Perhaps we both thought I wouldn’t understand all the technical stuff and that would be true – I just knew he worked as a programmer who worked with engineers and yes, I did know he had a nice title.
But the side I know is the husband and father, the provider and protector – the man who bristles when I call him a genius. He considers himself just an ordinary man. To me, it is very interesting how a person can live two such varied lives. But that could also be because the issues are home are so very different from the issues at work. And he handles the issues where he is while he is there.
And though I learned things about him that 51 years of marriage didn’t tell me, it really wouldn’t have mattered if he hadn’t done all that, he is still the man I fell in love with all those years ago.
Always good to hear about wives and husbands having such love for each other, 51 years is amazing these days.