Instead of a belated birthday message this is a belated birthday message thank you to all you kind souls who sent Mr. W____ (whose name we shall not speak, much like the Scottish play) e-mails and notes of congratulations for reaching 50.

You may be reading Marn's Big Adventure, but I'm living it, so they were appreciated.

I must admit, for my own peace of mind I never read Marn's diary, but I do get a vague idea of its content from little things she and our friends have let drop ... enough to keep me up late at night, at least.

But Marn has such fun with her diary and her Diaryland friends it can be forgiven if she takes a few liberties with the facts. Unfortunately for me this includes the realm of Mr. W_____. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad.

So thanks to all and sundry for your kind birthday wishes and comments, reconfirming Marn's assertion that Diaryland is a safe and wholesome place populated by mature and well-adjusted people.

No liberties taken there.

Thanks.

Mr. W______

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Yes, that was the spousal unit. He read all the comments and e-mails left by folks wishing him a happy birthday and I mentioned that a thank you might be nice. He does not work on internet time, however, and only got around to the thank you yesterday.

The spousal unit is not a computer literate soul. It's not far off the mark to say that if you told him to boot a computer, he'd give it a good swift kick. Me, on the other hand, me I enjoy computers and the different things they make possible. This would include the wonderful world of on-line diaries.

Herein the rub. The URL for The Big Adventure escaped out into this valley quite a while ago which means friends, neighbours and acquaintances read this. I am married to a very self-contained, intensely private man whose idea of happiness is quiet times at home. He doesn't need much more.

Uh oh.

Last night we hooked up with some friends down at the Auberge for a meal. The spousal unit got teased about being Mr. Wangitude. He was asked how he enjoyed the Mr. Wangitude t-shirt and, um, while it was funny while it was just between the two of us and Some Faceless People On The Internet We'll Never Meet, public teasing drove home to him that it very much WASN'T just between the two of us.

There was a thoughtful silence in the car on the way home. He wasn't mad exactly, but he was upset.

We've had, uh, Full And Frank Discussions about this before, about how we balance his privacy and my right to be me. Except we met in our teens and basically grew up together so me is partly him, just as he is partly me and feel free to start singing "I Am The Walrus" right here because it would be totally appropriate as long as you ignore the drug-induced bits, which would be pretty much the whole song, come to think of it.

Nevermind about the song.

He also worries that not all the people who read this are "mature and well-adjusted", that one day some very scary person might show up at our door.

If I were to stop writing this he would be a happy man indeed.

I understand his concerns, but I truly love writing. Words are bright, shiny, wonderful things and having people respond to them is almost as good as chocolate. Even better, I've met some special people through this. I am grateful that he's been big-hearted enough to never ask me to pull the plug on The Big Adventure, but if he ever did, then I would.

But, oh, man, I would throw such a snit, eh.

--Marn

Mileage on the Marnometer: 236.98 miles (381.3 kilometers)
Goal for 2003: 500 miles - 804.5 kilometers