Today is the day you’ve been waiting for . . . it’s the day I’m sharing the first installment of the Ask Me Anything Series!

I’ve given some thought to how to approach this and I’ve settled on grouping the questions by subject. There were quite a few about work, some about food. Some about knitting and books and movies and routines. And a few that fall into the trickiest category of all . . . deep. You know, the questions that will take some deep thought on my part to answer.

I’m going with the low hanging fruit for this post and I’m going to answer questions about Dale.

Mary K. asked: how is Dale’s lower leg?
It’s almost exactly a year since he was hit by a car while mowing the lawn and the simple answer to this question is that his broken bones have healed nicely. The more complicated answer is that he continues to struggle with swelling in his ankle and foot, it aches frequently, and he walks with a slight (and probably permanent) limp. He only recently stopped physical therapy as they felt they had helped him as much as they could but he still does exercises for the leg at home just about every day and he rides the Peloton, too. When I think about last summer it feels miraculous. When I think about the future it feels manageable.

Bonny and Pat both asked: how did you and Dale meet?
You all know Dale sings in a band, right? Or, well, he sang in a band before COVID. So the short answer is that we met because I was a groupie! But the explanation will take a little longer.

Way back in January 1993 my friend Diane, who was also my boss, (she was the Director and I was the Assistant Director) and I went to see Dale’s band play for a local fundraiser. Now, I had been aware of Dale’s band since I was a kid, seeing them play at outdoor concerts and in the park, but this was my first time going to see them as an adult and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Diane and I both liked oldies and classic rock, though, and as we sat at the table and listened to their first couple of songs I clearly remember Diane looking at me and saying, “I think we’ve found our people.” I actually won the door prize that night and I recall going up to the stage to collect my prize winnings, a t-shirt from a local radio station and a key chain, and gushing to Dale how I’d never won anything in my life before. Of course, I was married at the time and that was the extent of our interaction, but technically it is how we met.

Fast forward a few years and I had separated from my husband and Dale and I had become friendly, due in part to Diane and I continuing to go out and see the band over the years and also because Dale was a pretty regular library user. He saw me at a parade with Hannah (and not my husband) on the 4th of July and asked afterwards why he wasn’t there so I told him I was getting divorced. Next thing I knew, Dale was calling me every night. We had long, long chats on the phone nightly for weeks before we went out in person. In fact, we had talked so much and about so many things that our first date felt sort of anticlimactic – but in a really good and comfortable way. What followed was a whirlwind romance and we were married in less than a year.

And that’s a wrap on this installment of Ask Me Anything. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, I’ve got an on-going list and I promise to get to all of them.