A Half-Century Milestone

Our marriage began much like others in 1973 with a traditional ceremony followed by a cake and punch reception in the fellowship hall at Grace Covenant Presbyterian church. Don Debevoise was the minister at the time and he insisted we attend marriage classes with him before he would perform the wedding. Did we pay attention? Hard to remember now, but something worked didn't it?

It rained about an hour before the wedding, not unusual for a hot August day in Florida, however, I think I was worried it would keep folks away. Maybe it did or maybe not, but mostly I remember someone telling me that it was good luck to have rain on your wedding day so perhaps that is part of the secret to having a marriage that lasts a lifetime?  

Or maybe it is because we met so young and grew up together? It is like asking a centurion what is the secret to living such a long life? There is no explanation except that we knew that we loved one another and wanted to spend our lives together even as young teenagers. Bruce's parents were far more supportive than mine who thought we were too young to know what love is. A fine example they were....NOT. I wish I could say that they were great role models in that regard, but that would be lying. Of course children observe ways to be and ways not to be and we both learned from our experiences growing up. Although Bruce's parents were married a long time, his dad was not always the ideal husband. It is hard to explain so don't get any wild ideas about abuse or anything, but suffice it to say that what Bruce took from his experience is to "be kind." Furthermore, he would never tolerate the boys being mean to their mother as sometimes teenage boys are wont to do. 

The bridesmaids wore pink, homemade shortsleeved dresses with white trim and a wide-brimmed white hat with a pink ribbon. Maybe they carried roses although don't quote me on that. As to who made the dresses I also can't say but since the wedding party on the ladies side consisted of my sisters Lisa, Carol and Nancy, along with Bruce's sister Michelle, it is entirely possible they made their own because everyone knew how to sew back then. Except Lisa, I'm pretty sure she never took to it. Our sister Maureen, being somewhat of a rebel in those days, chose to go to Mexico rather than attend the wedding. That said, I received a beautiful reminder this week from my brother Pat, who was a groomsman that day,  and I am going to just let him express it: "Anyway all went well and to this day I can see Harold Aubuchon singing the Lord's Prayer, a memory that will stay with witnesses forever I reckon." I mention Maureen because Harold Aubuchon was her former father-in-law when she was married to Bill Aubuchon. Thus, I knew him and his wonderful voice as part of a barbershop quartet. Do you think that kind of music is still around? 

Pat's memory and his eloquent way of relating it nearly brought me to tears as I had forgotten how beautiful that was. Another song sung that day was "More". I suspect he sang that as well, but again, you do know my memory! HERE is an amazing recording by Bobby Darin. Gosh, I still love both the song and the sentiment. If you prefer Andy Williams, check this out.  Should you care to go down an internet rabbit hole, turns out everybody who was anyone back then covered it and you can find most of it on YouTube. The Supremes on Ed Sullivan, oh my, oh my! 

On the men's side of things, Cris, Bruce's brother was his best man, with my brother Pat, Billy James, Jimmy Fransisco and Mike Osborne rounding out the party. Cris is not well these days, and we only learned a week or so ago that Mike had died earlier this year in Colorado. Both Maureen and Carol have died, all of which makes me sad yet grateful to still be relatively healthy and definitely happy!! Speaking of happy, as most teenagers did back then when they began going "steady" they had a song. Ours was and still is, Happy Together by the Turtles. Thank God for YouTube! Reading the comments brought this old lady to tears as there were many who claimed that it was just as important to them as it was to us. I insist that you click on that link with a guarantee that it will be worth your while!

Should I include the part about how we left Orlando, after spending a little bit of time at his parent's home where the adults could enjoy adult beverages, and drove to St. Augustine in our baby blue VW hatchback? Probably. 

 Arriving in town around 9PM, back when St. Augustine was much smaller, every restaurant was closed so we ended up at a McDonalds to get something to eat. Having told the story many times, I remember it very well. I looked at my ring with awe and asked Bruce if he thought anyone could tell we were married only hours earlier? His answer I don't quite remember though. I suspect there was plenty of over-spending on weddings in those days, but I did not know anyone who did so. Even then I knew it was about the marriage and the wedding was merely a formality. Asking people to travel far and wide for a wedding would never have occurred to me although I suppose I was living a sheltered life. Or a Protestant one anyway!

Of course it all began years earlier when we began going "steady" when I was 13 and Bruce was 14. What a dreamboat he was to look at and sweet as can be. Still is for that matter! Bruce tells the story that we met at Lake Como Elementary School when I was in 6th grade and attending a summer school there. While I don't remember that, I do remember him from the church youth group at Grace Covenant. We sang in the choir together, if you can imagine. Neither of us has a singing voice, so I suspect we agreed to it to be near one another. We had a lot of fun in those days and the wonder of it all is that we are still doing so to this day. 

A huge heartbreak and I guess a test of our relationship, was when my Dad came home one day near the end of 10th grade, announcing to the family that he had purchased a home and we were moving over the summer to Melbourne where he had been commuting for nine years. As an adult, I get the decision, but it was painful to this young couple who were so much in love. Bruce worked as a bus boy at what was then called the Robert Myer Motor Inn across the street from Lake Eola, using his tip money to call me long distance from a pay phone. Remember long distance? Once he had a car he would drive over to Melbourne for the weekend, something in retrospect I can't imagine, but anyway he would stay with the family and for the life of me I can only remember us going to the beach on occasion. What I do remember from my end was riding the Greyhound bus to Orlando, as well as a man who worked with my dad, maybe Mike something or other,  who would give me a ride in his VW bug to see Bruce. We played a lot of canasta whiling away the weekends. 

Young people today wait a long time to get married, however, following high school graduation I returned to Orlando to attend x-ray school at Winter Park Memorial Hospital for the 24 month program and we married a month or so after graduation. At the same time Bruce was attending a four year apprenticeship with the Carpenters union to become a journeyman carpenter. He still had a ways to go, but with my income we figured we could make it work so FINALLY, after six years of "going steady" we married on August 18, 1973.

Three years later we had Matthew, followed by a year in California as the Orlando jobs were nil and none but plentiful out there. This Orlando girl hated Southern California and although Bruce loved his job he agreed to come home, one of many sacrifices he has made for me. While packing up to come home I discovered I was pregnant, not an ideal time, but those things happen. Two months later we had one of the great surprises of our life when we discovered we were having twins. Holy Cow! In those days twins were uncommon and identical twins even more so which meant that there was not the industry that there is today to support multiple births. And no, as we discovered, identical twins do not run in families. Fraternal yes, but not identical. Oy vey! 25 years old and we are set to have two more children with no health insurance? Both the hospital and the gynecologist insisted on full payment ahead of time so those were some lean times. Fortunately we managed, but I would be lying if I said it was an easy time for any of us. 

And then along came Jonathan. Enough is enough, right?

So many, many memories, honestly, mostly all good. Aside from the year in California and the one in Vancouver, our life has unfolded in Orlando. As I type this in Murphy, NC, I am grateful beyond measure for our life together and the family that has come to be. This past week two of our sons and their loved ones, along with sister Nancy spent time together in Brevard, NC where we had loads of adventures and lots of fun, including nighttime hoola hooping with a lighted hoop. Have you heard of a game called Heads Up? Loads of fun was had with that crazy game. Tubing, we did that too and I will relate some of the highlights soon.  Let's just say that I had no idea tubing was a participation sport!

We missed Bill, David, Michelle and Fallon, but maybe another time we can all be together again.

How do you condense so many years together? You don't. Cliff notes here. :)

your friend,

Gail

p.s. I neglected to mention I wore pale pink!