Anniversary

It's not quite what my friend Dean calls a speed limit anniversary but close--34 years ago today Bruce and I married.

He was 20, I was 19. He was in the carpenter apprenticeship program and I had just completed 24 grueling months as an x-ray student. When I look back on that training I realize that college is a piece of cake compared to what we went through. No summers off, 40 hours a week, and certainly no spring break. I digress.

I was now officially employed at $3.25 an hour. Bruce and I had gone steady since we were 13 and we could finally get married.

Our wedding was in a church nearby with the reception at the church hall--cake and punch. It all sounds so quaint now but that's how the majority of people who got married then celebrated. Destination weddings would have sounded as unbelievable as the notion that I could write something on a computer keyboard and people I haven't met face to face would read it!

My wedding dress was a pale pink embroidered organza over silk. It was almost scandalous that it was not white. Furthermore, we had to pay a portion of it because it was more expensive than my parents wanted to pay. It was just beautiful.

We honeymooned for a very short weekend in St. Augustine. When we arrived that night all the restaurants were closed by 9pm. What seemed like a nuisance at the time has turned into a fond memory. I remember sitting in McDonalds asking Bruce if he thought anyone could tell we just got married.

When we married it never occurred to us that it wouldn't work out. I'm sorry that young people today assume just the opposite.

The dress still fits perfectly as does the husband. Happy Anniversary sweetheart.