Four decades later, we have plenty to talk about, unlike our honeymoon when I honestly wondered what on earth I'd done marrying a blind date I'd only met nine months earlier. I know Spark felt the same way because he didn't balk at coming home early to party with friends.

In November we're planning a big trip to mark our anniversary, but we also wanted a small getaway to celebrate the actual day, May 10. The planning process has been comical, which is in keeping with our marriage - neither of us can ever make up our minds about where to eat or what movie to see.

The past few weeks we've tossed around destinations, have pretty much covered the Midwest and Southern states, though we haven't yet backed our car out of the garage. Our initial road trip was going to be to Kansas City. Great idea. We'll eat barbecue, visit small towns around the area, do it on the cheap. That idea stuck for 36 hours, until I threw a wrench into the works. "This anniversary really is a big deal," I said. "Our actual 40th should be special."

We nixed KC and turned our compass north to Michigan. Perfect timing, I told the hubby, "Holland is having its tulip festival. We can have spring twice." The research began, me on my laptop looking for suites that have doors that close, with an escape couch to turn to. How times have changed, I thought with a laugh, remembering the early days of our marriage and how upset we'd be if we were stuck with twin beds.

Just down the hall, Spark wasn't laughing. Rain was headed Holland's way; we set the wooden shoes aside.

"Hey, how about Charleston?" I suggested. "It's beautiful, a walking city like Santa Fe. We'd love it."

The weather was going to be warm and sunny there. Spark canceled a commitment, and we extended our trip a couple of days. Not big on B and B's, I looked for places in the historic area, inns with a bedroom door that closed. I finally found one with nary a negative review. I made reservations for four nights, and we tacked on two evenings at a romantic inn in Beaufort, S.C., right on the water.

Doors closed when we added up the cost of the extensive Rhett and Scarlett tryst. Our miniscule getaway had morphed into madness.

I'd like to be able to tell you where we will be going for our actual 40th anniversary road trip, but at press time we still didn't know. We investigated Michigan a bit further, checked the forecast again, and found a big condo with the essential door at a condo on a harbor about an hour from Holland. Come May 10 we could be tiptoeing through the tulips in our slickers, but if history repeats itself we could just as well be headed for Tennessee, Toledo or Timbuktu.

One thing's for certain. We can't be gone for long - there's another trip to plan in November. That big one will be a real doozy for us to decide on.