The Big Four-Oh, Part 1

     Yesterday Tom and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.

    February 19, 1977

February 19, 2017

     The first photo was taken in my parents' living room, the second in our family room,

...in the background of which appears on its spot on a shelf our wedding invitation.

     When two people have been married for 40 years there may be no need to mark an anniversary with any particular festivity, the day-to-day reality of still being together for so long being a celebration in and of itself.
      I suppose that's why Tom and I had given little thought to planning anything special to celebrate this anniversary.  And yet we ended up enjoying a sort of progressive celebration,

...kicked off by our friends Kevin and Barb, who invited us out to dinner for our anniversary on the Friday night of the  week  before the date (i.e., Friday, February 10).

    For the purpose of trying some new place  that none of us had been to before, they found a restaurant  in Gahanna called The Goat,  

...that turned out to be a little pub attached to an upscale  condo development (off Morse Road, for you local folk),

...that served the most beautiful burgers,

...super-crispy, super-tasty state-of-the-art tater tots,

...my pick, a delicious Cubano sandwich of pork, ham, pickles, provolone, relish and mustard  served on a baguette with a side of hot, crispy sweet potato fries,

...and, so the drinkers told me, some tasty brews, including the peanut butter-and-chocolate-flavored ale in the round-bottomed glass.

     After dinner we decided to round off the evening  with a dessert excursion. 
     I suggested the nearby Bob Evans, where, in my book,

...the desserts are pretty unbeatable,

...my favorite of all favorites being Bob Evans' coconut cream pie.  Divine! - and a wonderful end to a wonderful evening shared with good friends.

To be continued...