54th

Mom and Dad has their 54th wedding anniversary today!

Here’s what Mom posted on Facebook. It’s sweet so I wanted to steal share it.

This was taken 54 years ago on the day of our wedding (guess you could figure that out for yourselves). Our family lawyer, George , gave me away since my Dad had passed away a few years earlier.The Vietnam War was raging and Peter was up for the draft and hoping to get into the Navy Officer Candidate School (and he did). That morning, my mother was mad at me because I decided not to wash my hair that day because it already looked good (she did not agree). Everyone was there on time and looked terrific. The candlelight service was perfect and when we left the sanctuary, it was raining (which was a good omen.)..and it certainly has been true for us! Peter lost his temper with the photographer because he made us go back into the church for additional pictures at the alter. The reception was in the fellowship hall and the food was great. I met Peter’s cousins, Bobby, Andy and Cate from Chicago for the first time. There was another celebration at my home at 11312 Grandville in Detroit …I mention this because when Peter and I took a road trip into Ohio and Michigan last summer we discovered that my house was no longer there, the only vacant lot on the whole street! I digressed, back to the wedding…we worried that my car might not start when we were ready to leave…remember Corvair Monzas?…great looking, not much on dependability…but that night it started! It was a simple wedding by today’s standards but it was warm and joyous with lots of hugging all around! Now, 54 years have passed. 54 years of a remarkable partnership that has never faltered. Two wonderful children, a life filled with loyal and loving friends, living in a community we are dedicated to in a ridiculously large house that we love! We laugh every single day. We hold hands when we walk down the street. We have each others back. I love this man and I am pretty darned sure that he feels the same. Life doesn’t get a single bit better than this! The rain really was a good omen.

And then Dad commented “So soon she forgets! The damn car did NOT start – thanks to Machiavellian machinations by some of the ushers. Eventually they realized that the groom know nothing about engines, took pity, and hooked the spark plugs back up. – Another curious side story from our recent trip back to Detroit: We stayed in a hotel in downtown Detroit which looked vaguely familiar; it turned out to be a renamed Hotel Pontchartrain wherein we spent our wedding night in 1966.”

The other night when I was chatting on the phone with Mom and talking about this current pandemic situation she said “It’s made me realize really like my husband!”