A Very Lucky Gold Miner

[libertydave]

I'd like to share with you my good fortune I've had during my eighty years of life.
My dear wife of many, many years never did acquire an interest in chasing after placer gold nor in becoming a gold prospector/miner/dredger like myself. While I did offer her the opportunity to go with me she never found out what it was like in working with me on my gold dredge. Perhaps there was a good reason for that. But she has always accepted my interests in chasing after that precious yellow metal which also meant me being away from home for periods of time. She came to understand what it meant to have a husband who had a lifelong case of "gold fever" and she accepted and supported my golden interests. I do realize that I am one lucky miner and you all know just what I am talking about.
Her choice of entertainment was that she'd go with a couple of her girlfriends off on her own travel adventures that has included a trip to Las Vegas, a weekend in Sedona, AZ and a trip to the Florida Keys for a Parrothead concert. She once flew up to Victoria, BC, Canada for a few days of quiet on her own.
And each year when my birthday would roll around she'd always ask me if there was there "any birthday present that I 'needed' for my summer gold mining adventures". It has been a new wetsuit, another...a new swivel nozzle or other such mining related gifts. Last year she paid half on my new Minelab Gold Monster detector. I've mining friends tell me that I was "damn lucky" to have her support me with my interests for more than forty years.
Now I realize that this is not really much in the way of "gold dredger news" but I wanted to share that when my wife asked me a few weeks ago on what I wanted for my upcoming 80th birthday (on June 6th) I suggested to her a new Gold Hog Stream Sluice so that along with two of my grand kids I can go up to the claim on Swauk Creek and we'd (hopefully) find some color. Today my new Gold Hog sluice is sitting out in my shop still in the shipping box with a bow and card attached, ready to put together for an upcoming summer trip into the Cascade Mountains.
Now I should also point out that my dear Diane has fought a long and challenging battle with a dreadful illness called Lupus and the other terrible things that accompany that cursed disease. Sadly I've seen her go from a once adventurous and independent redhead I married decades back to where she struggles in just getting around our home in her walker and no longer ventures far away from our home. Neither of us is complaining as we know that many others have had far worse times than us, some even losing their life partners. I offer to each of you my full understanding of that fact.
That said I acknowledge it has also been my good fortune in finding some of that gold that I pursued/found...that is only surpassed by the gold I am given each day in sharing time spent with my Diane. We all know that nothing in life lasts forever, that our remaining time gets shorter by each passing day. So I hope you'll take some moments to give your golden partner a big hug and honor her by telling her thanks for all the golden nuggets that has given you during your life. Thank you for reading this. Best wishes to all, Liberty Dave

[dickb]

Very well said and absolutely true. Best wishes to both of you.

Dickb

[Matt Mattson]

Well written Dave. Many thanks and well wishes to both of you.