Sunsets

Even though it was late when I got to bed I was still up early the next morning and at breakfast was able to show off my ring. Both Mom and Dad were quite happy for me although Dad did tease me a little and suggest that I might want to elope instead of a regular wedding. Still, I knew he was teasing and both he and Mom were excited about a real wedding, even if they would be paying for it. We hadn't set any particular date but had decided on some time after graduation the next year, so there was plenty of time to plan.

We wentback to school in September and once again Tom had an apartment with one other guy and I also shared one with one other girl. We were on the quarter system. Fall and winter terms went pretty much as they had the previous year. We got to spend some nights together but not nearly as many as we would have liked. Then at the end of winter term my apartment mate finished and was ready to move out. Unless we could find someone to sublet she would still be responsible for her half of the rent for the next quarter. I, of course, told Tom about this. Two days later he informed me he had a solution for us.

"You know Brad, my roommate. He is engaged just like we are and we were talking one day about how we'd prefer some better living arrangements. When you told me about Sarah leaving I talked to him and we have a suggestion. His girl, Ellen, is currently living with her cousin here locally. What we thought might work out well for everyone is you sublet your apartment to Ellen." He then looked directly at me. "Then when she moves in you move over to my apartment and he goes to your old one."

I stared at him. "Could we really get away with that?"

"Actually I talked to the guy who owns my place and sort of hinted around about that possibility. Of course he couldn't say so directly but he made sure I knew it wouldn't bother him. I think Ellen has done the same thing with the people who own your place."

"It sounds almost too good to be true." Then I teasingly smiled at him. "You're sure you won't get tired of me?"

"Never! The only problem might be that we will want to spend all our time in bed and won't have time for classes if we do. And I do need to graduate this term."

I laughed - largely with excitement. "I'll bet we can manage both even if somewhat less of the former than we'd like. Let's do it if we can."

We met with Ellen and Brad and discussed the details. I found I liked both of them immediately and we all seemed to get along quite well. So when spring term began I was still officially living in my old apartment but every night I slipped into bed with Tom over at his. From a couple of conversations I had with Ellen that term I found that she and Brad enjoyed the arrangement as much as Tom and I.

When graduationfinally came, Tom also received a commission in the Air Force. He was ROTC and now had the next four years committed with a reporting date in late August. We had set the wedding date for the last week of July and now finalized the details. We would be married and then spend a week at a resort in Wisconsin followed by two weeks in a couple of the back country cabins in the Porkies, the big park on the shore of Lake Superior in the Michigan UP. A lot of our relatives thought that kind of strange but we both liked hiking and camping and didn't see anything odd about a couple of weeks without electricity or running water. No, actually there was running water in streams near the cabins - just not inside - and not heated. Neither were the cabins except for a small wood stove. Somehow I was sure we could manage to keep warm.

Besides the usual activities of a honeymoon, we spent long hours just hiking in the woods and walking along the shore of Lake Superior, the largest of these inland seas. (We spent an awful lot of time in the usual activities also.) While we were in the cabins we would go for several days without seeing another person. This suited us fine - we were perfectly happy just being with each other.

I think part of why we were so comfortable with each other was that we had been going together for a long time - long enough to become very good friends as well as lovers. I know a lot of people who live together before getting married run into some severe problems and often their marriage breaks up fairly soon. That wasn't the case with us. Perhaps because effectively living together that last term wasn't JUST about sex for us. Of course it was about sex to some extent, but it was also about a lot more. The sex wasn't something brand new for us by then, although we did find it as exciting as it had been the first times. Probably more so, if anything. But it was mostly about being together, merging our lives. I know a lot of couples don't really explore that aspect until they actually do get married and then often run into trouble.

During those three honeymoon weeks there were certainly some memorable times. A couple of them stand out as I think back. One afternoon we had spent walking along the shore of the big lake. We had carried something for supper with us and stopped to sit on a driftwood log to eat. Here the shore was actually sand instead of the small, rounded gravel most common to that region. True, the sand was fairly course and brown - not the white powder of a tropical beach. But it was fine enough that after we had eaten we took off our boots and waded out into the water a little. Lake Superior is rarely completely calm and this was no exception, although the waves were only six or eight inches high.

We were standing, hand in hand, when the wind picked up slightly and one wave broke, splashing us to the thighs. We were wearing cutoffs but still didn't like the idea of having to walk back to the cabin in wet clothing. The waves looked slightly larger, although still less than a foot, but I said something about maybe we should go back onto the shore and started to tug Tom's hand. When we stepped onto the sand again he teased me by saying, "Afraid to get a little damp?"

I teased right back saying, "You know I get damp any time I'm around you. I just didn't want to get my shorts soaked with lake water."

He looked at me for a second and then said, "Then take them off."

I felt my breath come a little faster and said, "If I do you'll have to, too."

He looked directly into my eyes and a little breathlessly himself said, "I dare you."

For several seconds we just stared at each other. This wasn't a totally secluded spot. It wasn't quite sunset yet and there was plenty of light. We had seen a couple of boats off shore and the beach itself was open enough that we would be exposed to anyone who happened to look. Right then we couldn't see anyone at all, but still ...

Finally I smiled and reached for the waist of my cutoffs. Tom smiled back and in just a few seconds we were bare from the waist down. Laughing, we again held hands and moved out into the water until it was up to our thighs and the waves were breaking even higher. I pulled up my shirt and Tom did the same and for several minutes we just played in the cool water, letting the waves crest and break against our private regions. We kissed some and suddenly Tom took my hand and pulled me hard back towards shore. When we left the water he pulled me over to one of the fallen driftwood trees lying some thirty inches off the ground. He bent me forwards and with no hesitation entered me hard from behind. I was already soaked from more than the lake and he slid in easily before beginning to pound me hard and fast from behind, his hands sliding forwards to play with my breasts inside my shirt and occasionally reaching downwards to tease my clit.

My head rose and I found myself looking out across the lake directly at the sun sliding below the horizon. We didn't last a long time - not surprising at the rate we were going at it - but it was long enough that the clouds went through their whole range of colors and I'll always remember that as one of the most fantastic sunsets I have ever seen.

Another time we had driven up the lake shore along the peninsula which sticks out into Lake Superior. That day there had been some thunderstorms and whenever we looked out at the water there were some sizable waves breaking against the shore. We ate dinner at a small restaurant and afterwards started the drive back down the way we had come. There was a small picnic area we had passed earlier with a lookout over the lake and we decided to stop at it for a short time.

This area of shore had some sizable rocks instead of just flat beach and we had to climb some twenty five feet upwards for the best vantage point. We found a good place to sit and I arranged myself on Tom's lap. No one else was at the site at all, so we had the whole place to ourselves. From where we sat, the rocks dropped nearly straight down to where the waves were breaking against them, throwing water several feet up the sides and making a lovely sound. I snuggled in Tom's arms and for the next hour and a half we just sat, being content with each other, and watching the lake and finally the sun as it sank into the distant waters. We kissed a little but otherwise there was nothing in the way of erotic activity at all. We were just happy to be together and I'll always remember that sunset as one of my favorites also.

Tom's firstAir Force assignment was at Edwards Air Force Base, the huge complex in the Mojave desert. We spent a year and a half there and during that time we saw some fantastic sunsets. The high desert with its clear, thin air can provide some really spectacular views, especially if the winds have been blowing some of the ever present dust high into the atmosphere.

Over the next four years we had an assignment in Florida and one shorter one in Alaska. What I remember most about Alaska is that at the right time of year and in the right place, the sunsets can last the full twenty-four hours as the solar globe rolls along the horizon. Further north it would be the "Land of the Midnight Sun" but in the right place it is the land of the endless sunset.

During one summer, while Tom was on active duty we managed to have leave at the right time so that we were again in our home town on the twelfth of August. And, yes, we did make it out to the Point for the sunset that day. Also for our own little celebration on a blanket after the light had begun to fade.

When we left the service we both got jobs in Ohio, where we worked for three years. We had decided that we didn't like that environment particularly so when we found that a company was opening a new facility near the Lake Michigan shore some forty miles from our hometown, we jumped at the chance. We both applied and found positions and in another six months had settled into a nice house in the country less than five miles from the shore. We would have loved to have shoreline property, but there was no way we could afford that even if it had been available. Still, there was public land and parks we could visit and the old county park was only a forty-five minute drive away. We contented ourselves with our own thirty acres of woods and frequent visits to the public areas.

I think we only missed two years after that in making our August twelfth trip out to the Point. Once was when Tom was on a business trip that could not be rearranged. The other time was the year our son was born on August tenth. We were otherwise occupied then.

Now our son and both daughters are grown and married and live elsewhere. Oh, we still saw them often after they moved and of course we wanted to see our grandchildren. We both retired a few years ago but still kept quite busy. Tom did some consulting and I managed to write and publish a couple of text books.

Our marriage never went stale in the slightest. We've never felt any less in love than we did at the first, and the physical side, while somewhat less frequent, is still quite present. Even in our seventies we found we still wanted each other as much as ever. Last year when we were visiting our oldest daughter and her family she happened to come out into their back yard one evening and caught us making out in the shadows. We were a little startled but she just smiled and said, "Carry on," and we did just that.

Every time we come out to the Point on the twelfth of August, we take our blanket and after the sun sets we spend time on it, sometimes making slow, sensuous love and other times fucking like mad minks. Maybe we were sometimes a little more out of breath than we used to be, but we were never any less interested.

We've seena lot of sunsets in a lot of different places. Some from mountains, some from shorelines, some from cities and some from the middle of nowhere. Some winter, some summer, some spring and some fall. Many were beautiful beyond description and often our hands would tighten as we watched. But the most memorable are the ones out at the Point, especially on the twelfth of August. We came out here whenever it was possible on that date and always together. I think this is the first time I've ever made my way out here without Tom with me. Now I sit looking out at the lake, remembering the many other times. The sun is sinking near the water and I know it won't be long before it finally drops below the horizon. It seems so strange to watch it by myself.

Suddenly I hear movement in the trees behind me and I turn to look in that direction. I spring to my feet and move towards him as Tom comes along the path. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time," I say as I rush to him and we enfold each other.

When we pull back from our kiss he says, "Of course I'd make it." Then he adds, "The plane got stacked for a half hour and then there were delays on the ground. It was getting a little tight."

Hand in hand we move over, past the spread blanket where I know we will soon be stretched out naked and making love, to our seat and look out as the clouds begin to take on the color of flame. Tom's arm is around my shoulder and my head is resting against him. I mumble, "It seemed so strange to come out here alone. Oh, Tom, we should always be together out here."

He places a kiss on the top of my head. "I think so, too."

I turn just slightly more serious. "We should, but, Tom, we both know that someday that may not be possible. We're not twenty three anymore."

He turns and smiles at me and places a light kiss on my lips. "True. We're not immortal. But, Lynn, no matter which of us finally has to come out here by themselves, we both know that we'll never really be out here alone."

I smile and give a little nod of agreement. "No, we never will be." Then we turn to face the setting sun, soaking up the wonderful colors and each knowing that the coming night is not some end but only the continuation of a lovely day.