Today was our 12th anniversary, but we couldn’t figure out how to celebrate it. This week was taken up with my illness and this weekend, Bishop Maginn Prom.

We had the sweetest morning, lying in bed, taking the gentle lovemaking of the loving middle-aged, and then blogging, organizing prom photos, signing thank yous to Army of Good donors,  food shopping, dropping books off at the Mansion, and tending to my badly bruised side and sporadic fatigue.

I’m on the mend but still weak and hurting. Progress is steady by slow, as I was warned it would be.

How does one celebrate after a week like this one? I could hardly walk until yesterday, and it’s tough and go now. We hit on it. Lobster rolls at Billy T’s, our favorite ice cream place.

Billy T’s Northside Dairy Bar is a funky place in Bennington, Vermont, about 40 minutes from our farm. Its full title is Billy T’s Northside Dairy Bar.

The dairy bar sells excellent ice cream, but surprisingly, it also sells fresh and delicious seafood – clams, whole belly, and stripped and perfect lobster rolls with butter and fresh rolls.

The ice cream is excellent, but the seafood is delicious. I love lobster in any form, and once or twice a year, I indulge in the fat and delicious whole belly clams they sell at Billy T’s; they are good but not cheap. Dinner was $50 for the two rolls, I recall my anniversary dinners in New York City years ago, they cost $300 even then.

I can’t figure out how a dairy bar gets such fresh and good seafood, but on special occasions, Maria and I treat ourselves to a meal there.

First, we took a selfie while waiting for the food. We took it out to some benches to eat it. It was the perfect place for us tonight.

We sat in the back on spotless benches and had ice cream (sugar-free for me) for dessert.

We figured this was the right way to celebrate this unforgettable anniversary weekend. It was comfortable, informal, tasty, and fun. If lifted both of us, we were smiling all through dinner.

This afternoon, I put up some of my blog photos since people were waiting for them, and then we headed out as a windy, cloudy sky came rushing in ahead of some storms. It was breezy but beautiful when we got there.

I ordered the Connectic style lobster roll with huge chunks of lobster sprinkled with hot butter, and Maria ordered a sandwich that might have felled me on the spot, a grilled cheese lobster roll that I had to admit was incredibly delicious if jammed with fat and cholesterol.

We sat and talked about our marriage and life together and then had some ice cream. The pain in my side let up as if joining the celebration. We took pictures of one another.

Then we came home.

Maria is stacking some firewood right now, as I thought she might, and I’m writing about our patched-together but grand celebration. We’ll polish off the evening watching Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix and maybe re-watching Ted Lasso on Apple TV. We are fond of both shows.

But I’ll probably be asleep before long; my energy is coming back slowly.

Tomorrow, Maria is driving me to the pulmonologist to check on my sleep apnea.

I’m eager to hear what he says. I’m hoping to persuade him to turn down the air stream a beat on my machine; it keeps blowing air in my face and waking me up. According to the data, my heart stopped 80 times an hour; now, it’s 0.7  an hour. That’s excellent news.

Tuesday, I see Dr. Daly check on my feet. Wednesday, Zinnia gets to meet her new groomer (her first groomer), Kylie. Maria is driving me to and from both places, I’m sorry about her having to drive me, but I can’t go that far yet.

Under our Care Agreement, she’s off tomorrow afternoon and Tuesday morning. She has full days to work the rest of the week. She insists on driving me; frankly, I’m grateful for that. This illness, whatever it was, has knocked me for a loop.

I hope I can get back to normal by next week, but I’m not messing with this. I’m working on healing. I’m planning a Recovery Journal tomorrow after my talks and meetings with the doctors.

I’m eager to meet Kylie opened her dog salon in February. I just heard of her last week but was too sick to go. A dog like Zinnia needs to be groomed every month or so. I hope we can work that out.

Thanks for all your lovely words about my Prom pictures. It is much appreciated.