Forty Years And Counting…

At four o’clock this afternoon, Ed and I will have officially been married for forty years.  Forty years is a long, long time, but it hasn’t seemed like a long time at all.

Last night, while Ed and I were sitting at the kitchen table, I remarked to him, “Forty years ago tonight, we were eating our rehearsal dinner in your parents “red room”.  (The “red room” was their newly remodeled den which was void of furniture, except for long tables and chairs, brought in for the occasion.)  Ed says he can’t remember the rehearsal dinner.   Then I asked him, “Forty years ago, at that rehearsal dinner, would you ever have thought that we would be living in a second house, built by  you,  in your daddy’s old cow pasture, and sitting here eating at a dinner table that’s covered with ripening tomatoes?”  He answered, “No.”  Our conversation then prompted the sharing of a few memories of our wedding day…

Here they are in no particular order:

*Ed wanted to wear suede Dingo boots to our wedding.  I was upset, and begged his mom to intervene.  She did, and he bought new dress shoes, which he always hated.  They were black “wing tips”.  Remember those???

*I remember Ed coming to my parents’ house on the morning of our wedding day.  I was hiding  in my bedroom, but I peeked out of the window and watched him coming up on the front porch!  I saw him before the wedding, but he didn’t see me.

*Ed and I got married on Sunday, and it was Father’s Day!  We chose June 18 for our wedding, as a tribute to the mutual cousin who introduced us.  It was her birthday.

*I went out to my daddy’s garden on the morning of our wedding day, and picked fresh peas and corn to take with me on our honeymoon!  I don’t remember where I kept them, until after the wedding, but we took them with us!

*I didn’t get to cook those fresh veggies until the following Thursday, because it rained every day and the gas company couldn’t come to bring us a tank.  I was sad, but little did I know I’d be facing a lifetime of cooking!

*Ed and I ate a lot of bologna sandwiches the first week of our marriage–until the gas got turned on.

*It rained on our wedding day, and I was distraught.  I remembered the old wives’ tale about rain on the wedding day being bad luck, and representing the amount of tears the bride will shed during her marriage.  I know from personal experience, it’s not true!   The rain went away, and by 4 o’clock, the sun was shining again!

*I refused to wear a veil on my head, or even any flowers in my hair for the wedding because I had so much (long) hair on my head.

*Someone took one of the spark plug wires loose from Ed’s car, during the wedding, so we couldn’t outrun the people who wanted to chase us.

*Someone painted Ed’s car with white shoe polish, which never came completely off the black racing stripes on the hood.

*My brother took our wedding pictures–with a Polaroid camera!

*Ed and I ate our first meal as man and wife at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Actually, we got our meal “to go”.  When the store manager saw that we were “Just Married” he gave us our meal for free, as a wedding gift!  For forty years, we’ve eaten KFC on or near our anniversary day, as part of our celebration.

*We planned our wedding, Ed found a job, we found a place to live, and moved our things in–all within three weeks!  I married Ed without ever giving it a second thought–and I’d do it all over again today!

I made the following video for Ed as an anniversary present.  It spans over 60 years of time, and contains so many wonderful memories.  The bodies no longer look the same, but the hearts still feel the same!

I’m taking some time off this week to celebrate with my hubby.  We’ve been busy canning vegetables, but we’re taking a short break and heading for the beach!  I’ll be back on-line in a few days.  Have a great week, everyone!