Travels - Sweden, Paris, & 29th Anniversary

29th Anniversary.

Who says romance dies in old age? Sure, we can finish each other’s sentences and know what the other is thinking without words after being married and working together for 29 years. All these years in the trenches with me doesn’t mean that Kelly does not deserve a trip to Paris after all this time. So, with that in mind, I set about planning our trip.

This year is only the third AFA convention that I have missed since 1991. I was of course going to go to this year’s convention, but the AFA changed the dates, and I was not aware of it enough to avoid booking a clinic in Sweden over the AFA dates. Getting to do a clinic and going back to Sweden is awesome and I will get a chance to see some great friends over there, and….

The flight just happened to have a 3-hour layover in Paris, France, The City of Love, (so I am told). The really cool thing is that we will leave Atlanta on the 4th of March and our anniversary is the 5th of March. We will wake up over the Atlantic somewhere and actually land in Paris on our anniversary. It sounds like it was written in a romance novel.

For this trip, I convinced Kelly to go with me again, which is not such an easy thing. She does not like planes much, and could easily be a hermit and never leave the farm. But, I get her to go with me as much as I can, so she agreed – again. It always goes like this.

“Hey babe, I’m going to do a clinic in ____.” I say. “Do you want to come?”

“No. I’ve been there.” She will always answer.

“You haven’t been to this one.” I’ll say.

“Are you sure?” She’ll ask.

“Of Course.” I answer. “You would remember it.” And we laugh because with our age and experiences it is pretty hard to remember from one place to the next. We remember the people, but one plane is much like the other and one airport is much like the other. Kelly feels that if she has been to any part of a country, she has already been there and doesn’t need to go again.

“Ok, I’ll go.” She will finally agree.

That’s all I need to book the flight, and then I know that we will argue over how long it takes, how many layovers we get, what our seats are, etc. Once we get wherever we are headed she will be great with it. It is just the getting there.

This time we knew she had not been to the Mora Frost Knife factory in Mora that makes the Chris Gregory knife, and we get to spend some time with Par Brask up there. At the end of the trip we are going to get to see a Swedish HHS graduate named Lars Gustafson that is also a Swedish medical doctor. I am really looking forward to it, but my Little Darling is sitting in Sky Club in Atlanta and not looking forward to the 8-hour plane ride into Paris.

I thought I would post this first blog about the trip, and I will try to keep you all informed along the way. Have a great week, and farriers in Arlington at the convention, know that I am missing you. Be back soon.

Kelly sitting in Sky Club in the International Terminal in Atlanta. Will be on a plane soon.