You have earned my respect! I hate when people break up and spend the rest of their lives trashing their former partner. When you are with someone, there was something good that drew you together, cherish it, and move on in dignity. 50 years later, my high school boyfriend and I e-mail on our birthdays. He is now more liberal than I, but he has many good points. Way to go, Mike!

This is my ex with the official "Taggart Transcontinental" t-shirt that I bought her for her 60th birthday.

We have been divorced for about 37 years, and I have been remarried for about 36, but we never lost contact with each other over the years because when we were young, we enjoyed the works of Ayn Rand. It was a bond of reason, reality, rationality, and self-interest.

We dated for about three years; and were married for about five. We had no children. At one point were going in different directions: I wanted to move out west, and she wanted to stay in town and open a business. So, we got divorced.

Basically, she is a printer. After high school, she started out on a tabletop Multilith and went on from there. She was president of the QuarkXPress users group. Today, she creates software for databases that automate the production of retail sales catalogs. When a Filemaker guru came to Austin to talk to our Macintosh user group, I dropped her name and got a nod.

Today was her birthday and my email to her included a picture of an old printing press. But I spent almost an hour watching YouTube videos of "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." Railroads were always a family interest for her; and about a lifetime ago, for another birthday, I got her a vintage engineer's cap.

We had been married a couple of years when standing in the sidelines I watched a 19-year old girl close a business deal with a man twice her age and finally understood Dagny Taggart.

Good for both of you. It's sad when your goals don't mesh, but I'm glad you're still on such great terms.

Very cute... and the t-shirt, too. :)
I love steam!