I'm Trent Madsen. Junior College Sociology professor, husband of Tami Madsen, nee Holder, and father of two twin sons, Seth and Thomas. Seth just graduated college two years ago and married a girl from Phoenix and is now living and teaching high school there. Thomas opted for a military career in the US Air Force and is currently in Germany.
It's been said that life isn't fair. It's also extremely unpredictable. It's also confusing. Yet somehow, with all the curves it throws us, we manage to survive and even excel in it.
Tami is a high school Physical Education teacher. We met in college, we both turn 51 this year, and she began her teaching career exactly one semester before I began mine.
She's also been the assistant girl's swimming coach for the past 15 years. During that season she stays busy for after-school practices and swim meets locally and up to 200 miles from home.
Although I miss her during those times, that extra money has been an important part of getting one twin through college (a partial loan took care of the rest) and getting Tami's solar heated pool in our secluded back yard; complete with a motorized rollout cover.
We live in the central valley of California and we're blessed with a beautiful view of the mountains from our enclosed patio
Although our marriage has always been a good one, Tami and I are so different when it comes to our personalities.
I'm the fun-loving goofy guy. I joke a lot, make cringe-worthy puns, and have a sense of humor that could be consider blue by some; juvenile by others. It's endearing to some, annoying to others.
Tami is by far the more serious one. It's not that she doesn't smile or enjoy life or a silly joke, but she approaches life much more cautiously and with much less humor than I do. It's kind of a Yen and Yang relationship.
I will give her credit, though. She is a master at financial planning and I've essentially given her full control of our finances. She's much more frugal than I am; no question about it.
She's also incredibly beautiful. Her features are practically perfect. Five foot, six inches of hard, toned body with a still-impressive firm B-cup breasts and a hard, tight ass. Her short, dark brown hair, which is always nicely cut, and brown eyes still get men's attention.
In the beginning, I was always jealous of the attention she got from other guys. I'm not going to pretend that I'm some ugly duckling, but I've never felt like I could compete with many guys that could potentially decide to pursue her.
Yet, she chose me...and seems to be very content in doing so. We still enjoy each other's companionship and still have a reasonably healthy sex life. I would prefer more, but she puts out enough and puts enough effort into it to keep me satisfied.
Wednesday nights is my guys' night out. Bowling night. It's a great chance for a bunch of us to be kids again for a few hours while enjoying a beer or two and bowling three games.
It's a mixed league with Monte and Carol, who are married to each other, and Jacqueline, who is Carol's sister. We've been a team for nearly 20 years. We always choose the name "Alley Cats" and have had several shirts made over the years with our emblem being a Siamese cat in the gutter holding onto a bottle of Scotch in one paw and a bowling ball in the other.
Tami, along with her swimming team obligations, goes to work early each day and does her workouts in the school gym. She has had this routine almost from the beginning; and with the same partner.
Sarah Brock, nee Neilson. Sarah is a fellow Physical Education teacher that began her career the following semester at their high school. Sarah and Tami have been best friends for at least the past 20 years.
Each morning, they'd meet early, work out on the treadmill, the bike, and the abs machines, then shower and get ready for their work day.
Sarah's husband, Stan, also is a teacher at the same Junior College as I am. He teaches various history classes. They have a son, Jacob, that now lives in San Diego and is an investment banker.
I like Stan. He's a very decent guy, but he's much too serious. I have no doubt that he's a good husband and father, but socially he's just too awkward and can't appreciate some light-hearted conversation. It seems like he feels a need to over-analyze every statement and situation. Sarah appeared happy with him, so I tolerated his odd behavior.
His wife is much different. I've always surmised that Tami's attraction to Sarah is because she's similar to a female version of me.
Sarah is a nut. I say that in a good way. Funny as hell. Witty. Very quick witted. She doesn't take herself seriously at all.
Also, a master of good and bad puns as well as an often-juvenile sense of humor makes her fun and entertaining. I know we can annoy the other two when we're together.
To no one's surprise, when the four of us are together socially, it's Sarah and I that keep the jokes coming while Tami and Stan tend to wander off into their own little world just inches away from us and begin their own conversations.
It's no secret that Tami and Sarah are much closer friends than Stan and I. Even Sarah is a closer friend to me than Stan. I've often thought that Stan looked at me like I had a mental disorder. If I were a psychiatrist, I'd love to tap into his head and find out what makes him tick. There is something very repressed that isn't coming out. He's too nice and polite to be so stodgy, although he can sound a little condescending occasionally.
He could enjoy a good intellectual conversation about any academic or political subject, which we could often do, but humor seemed to somehow escape that part of his brain. At least Tami seemed to appreciate my quirky wit. Stan sometimes appeared annoyed by it. Made me wonder why he could live with Sarah.
Well, there is a very good reason, actually.
Sarah is a five feet, 10 inch, lovely lady. She has strawberry blonde hair which falls to her shoulders and is usually held back with a clip. Her bright green eyes and her silly smile, slightly crooked, make for a unique kind of attractiveness.
She isn't the natural beauty that Tami is, but she's certainly not hard on the eyes and she has a personality that's quite attractive and what appears to be an ample chest, about a C-cup.
The best physical feature I've noticed on her are her long legs. She's thin, but not especially toned, yet when I've seen her in a modest one-piece bathing suit several times, it was the legs got my attention the first time even before her breasts did. Each time, I always admire those lengthy limbs.
I'm an even 6 feet tall with probably an extra 15 pounds I could lose if I put my mind to it. I'm going gray early, with most of my natural blonde hair having turned a much whiter color. I still am quick to point out that it's still a full head of hair, though.
Last year, in May, it was nearing graduation time for the students. The swimming season had ended, and it was time to get anxious about our vacation plans.
We had planned a one-week trip to Las Vegas for the middle of June. We had gone to Vegas on weekends before, but we wanted to spend a full week, catch several shows, gamble a little, and relax a lot. A suite with a balcony view of the Strip was awaiting us.
I got home early one day during the first week of May. A nasty wind and rain storm hit the area and a power line near the college went down. The power company was optimistic about getting power restored before the next school day, but for the remainder of this day, we were all sent home.
I sent out my assignments to my students via the school email system. With finals coming up soon, I wanted to be as available as much as I could. Email was a great way to answer questions they may have while at home. I also had a correspondence course I taught.
I took advantage of the day and took my tablet out to our enclosed patio. I laid back in the lounge chair and began reading the newest book I had just downloaded online. Somewhere between 3 and 4, I fell asleep.
Sometime around 4 o'clock, I was awakened by the tap on my shoulder by Tami.
"You're going to sleep through THIS?" she said, smiling at me.
