The "An Open Letter To "Thank" All Of You!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking my blog as well as my Facebook page.  Found that I had over 20 "Comments" and 40 "Likes" for the story I posted on Blogspot two days ago about Carol and my 50th Wedding Anniversary. We appreciate all the great comments that were posted as well as seeing all the names attached to the likes.  Names I haven't heard for years or students I haven't seen since they graduated from high school.  Carol and I felt all the love that was meant by the postings on Facebook and we truly are thankful for having so many great friends that enjoyed reading about our momentous occasion.  Also thought I would give you an update as to how we shared our anniversary with the rest of the family.  Our two granddaughters arrived from Maryland this past Wednesday to visit and stay overnight with the young girl I wrote about a few times on this blog, Kennedy.  She is one of eight people in the world who share an extremely rare disease and who received, in 2014, the donation of part of a liver from a high school classmate of her mother Donya.  She is doing well and has become attached to both Courtney and Camille, my granddaughters.  They spent the night with her and her step-sister Mia and returned to our place on Thursday.  On Friday Camille and I picked up my grandson, Caden, and the two of them helped me mulch my flower beds while Courtney helped my wife with shopping.  Carol and I thought it funny that they just happened to set up the visit with Kennedy and the visit to our house a few days before our anniversary.  Then our daughter Brynn, Camille and Courtney's mother, arrived Friday evening and told us to be up and ready by 9:15 am Saturday morning, since we were going somewhere.  Ah, Ha!  Told us we had to dress nice casual!  Something was up.  If you have been reading this blog you probably know that I have been going through some medical problems and was given four shots of Firmagon before a recent surgery.  Some of the side effects of the drug are hot flashes, night sweats and the inability to control one's emotions.  Which for me means I now tend to cry all the time.  Carol keeps a box of tissues on the table next to our bed and when I wake in the middle of the night with night sweats and crying, I can count on a few tissues from the other side of the bed.  I will trade all those side effects for my health any day, but the crying thing was going to make me look like a fool if a large group of people were going to meet us somewhere at 9:15 am.  I should have known better since my three children knew of my predicament.

From left-right: Camille, LDub, Carol, Brynn, Tad,
Courtney, Barbara, Caden and Derek.  The Woods Family!

After driving around a few wrong streets, on purpose, Brynn pulled into the Eden Resort in Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania.  We walked from the parking lot into the main entrance than to the resort's restaurant where we found our son Tad,  son Derek, daughter-in-law Barbara and grandson Caden.  I instantly relaxed and knew I was going to enjoy our 50th Wedding Anniversary.  A big basket of "goodies" awaited Carol and me from my favorite fruit slices and cashews to a gift card for Carol to have her nails done.  Naturally a few bottles of wine and a bottle of Champagne were found in the basket.  We enjoyed the fabulous buffet and a few fun stories from our years of wedded bliss.  A perfect day with the people who mean the most to us was had by Carol and me.  Now, I could go on and on about the family, but the tears are filling my eyes as I type, so I will end my story.  Thanks again for all the nice comments and likes.  They were a fun part of our anniversary!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.