Happy 50th!
That would be 50 years of marriage for us :) Wow! It seems like we never had any life other than together. We're in the process of getting zooted up for a family party to honor our 50 years together. We have no idea what the kids and grandkids have in store for us today but I'm sure I'll need a box of kleenex. Tears of joy!
We've had mostly good times in our marriage. I was thinking that the marriage vows really describe married life pretty well...something like "to love, honor and cherish, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health." Yep...been there, done that! We could add "through screaming and shouting, in sunshine and rain, in dancing and singing!!"
We asked ourselves the other day how we'd managed to have 50 pretty happy years together. We came up with a few ideas that you've heard before but we did actually strive to live this way. Never go to bed angry. Always say "I'm sorry" even if it's just I'm sorry we're fighting :) Hug and kiss every day. Take the monkey! Jim says I'm an expert at moving the monkey so that was his guideline. Give 100%.
I"m sure the kids and grandkids will have stories to contradict these ideas...like how they heard me tell Grandpa to get the effing banana out of his ear. Sure ...remember that's for better or worse :) There were some worse times. Like the time I was so mad I decided to leave everyone, backed the car out of the garage and missed the door. Didn't get very far :)
We were married in Gurnee, Illinois on a hot, muggy Midwestern day. Sunny morning and stormy afternoon. It rained so hard that my brother-in-law backed the car up on the church lawn, wrapped me in cardboard flower boxes and carried me into the church. (At least that's how I remember it :) It was so hot I remember the sweat pouring off Jim's nose as he put the ring on my finger. The ladies of the church provided a reception and then we went to my Mom's for dinner with the family.
The church we were married in, a little white country church with beautiful stained glass windows, is no longer there. The hotel we spent our wedding night in, Moraine on the Lake, in Highwood, Illinois, is gone. Our honeymoon cottage on Lake Holcombe doesn't show up on Google. But WE are still alive and kicking, looking forward to a great day with our wonderful family.
More on the celebration tomorrow. Maybe even a picture or two :)