The day before

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, 32 years and I have been reminiscing- about the damn hot weather we were cursing that day! What I wouldn't give for some of that now.

Thank goodness it was a very short ceremony, in a Catholic church, but no mass, since I'm a heathen ie. non-Catholic.

Anyhoo, 15 minutes in church and then a reception in my grandparent's backyard. My father stayed in his tux for a picture or two, then changed to shorts. My mom was still recovering from getting locked in the bathroom while we were getting dressed. As I recall, we passed her a screwdriver through the window, she removed the hinge pins and we made it to the church on time. Did you sing that last bit? I did.



We went camping in Maine for our honeymoon, so tomorrow we will reverse the drive, as we travel to RI for my niece's wedding.

Our families are slightly out of the ordinary (ha, we sure are!) as far as marriage statistics go, which is nice. Both J's and my grandparents and parents were married once, and for life. Happy or stubborn? You decide.

One of my grandfathers was a pretty intimidating man: large, loud, opinionated and always right. "My way or the highway" could have been coined by him. He also loved practical jokes, could play the harmonica and could empty a glass bottle of Coke in one go.

Papa O. was a farmer, and drove a school bus- ours, which is a whole other story. Mama was a small woman with a wicked sense of humor. Theirs was a typical marriage for their generation, she stayed at home with the 4 kids, and Papa seemingly making all decisions. But when she developed multiple myeloma, he took care of her, did the cleaning and cooking and laundry.

My other set of grandparents were schoolteachers, and by the time I was in junior high, Papa B was principal. They were the quieter ones, and Papa is responsible for the ton of pictures we have of us kids. He developed his own film and apparently loved evergreens as a background. This grandmother was the kind you said 'sugar beans' in front of.

J's parents had 10 kids and a pretty small house, and still stayed together! Way to go. Of course, when any couple gets married, they hope and believe it will be forever. I certainly did, and it looks like it will last- knock on wood. I think it helps that we each had good examples and expectations, and hope that our marriage had positive influences on our kids.

This post has rambled a bit from my beginning, but what else is new? All I want to say is that I'm happy to celebrate 32 years with J. And many more to come.

July 17, 1977


Yes, those are ruffles on the men's shirts, with yellow or pink edges. It was the 70s!
My mom made my dress, good job, eh?