My better looking half and I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. I used to look at people that had been married that long and think... "They're so OLD!!" And while I wanted to stay married forever, together through thick and thin, I really never wrapped my head around what that would mean. Like, the better part of my whole life!! We've been married way longer than we were unmarried and you'll be happy to know that we're not near as old as people used to be when they were married that long!
But when we got married, it was kind of the beginning of wedding registries, and weddings weren't the ridiculously expensive affairs they are now. Ours ended up being much bigger than we had planned, but I had a huge family, and ultimately we wanted those who were special to us to be included, so we just went with the flow. Even though large, we kept it pretty simple and enjoyed the day.
We experienced many of the wedding traumas that you hear about. 1/2 of our wedding pictures didn't turn out because evidently, the film (yes children, actual film) didn't wind up in the camera and when the photographer opened it up it kind of sproinged out like a joke can of peanuts. All that were taken before the wedding were lost, so other than a couple of fuzzy photos that were snapped with an instamatic camera that one of the bridesmaids had, we don't have any leading up to it.
I was VERY late getting to the church, and my better half's grandmother was pacing and wringing her hands in fear that I wouldn't show. We had dated four long years waiting for this day and standing him up was the last thing on my mind. In my defense, it was a very long and busy day leading up to the ceremony, and I was ready to go on time. A friend of my dad's ended up driving me to the church, and in a very calm way, reminded me that nothing could start until I arrived. Sweet sweet man.
The ceremony finally began and went off without a hitch. My better half wore his dress USAF uniform and on the cassette tape (the very best technology money could buy) you can hear people gasp when he came in. And while friends and family, bridesmaids in gold and yellow dresses wearing big sun hats and carrying baskets of flowers, and groomsmen in brown tuxedos with yellow ruffled shirts and velvet bow ties looked on, we finally tied the knot.
May 27, 1978
No one loved me enough to tell me that in later years, my color choices would bring uproarious laughter from my teenagers. It was popular. I just wanted to get married. What did I know?? The icing on the cake, so to speak, was the fountain that was a part of our wedding cake. I asked for yellow food coloring in the water to "match" the wedding. Again, no one loved me enough to question me. *insert laughing emoji here!*
The best and most fun part of the day came when we all trooped back to my folks house and actually opened the wedding gifts. An amazing creative and precious assortment provided by people who cared for us. Included was an awesome macrame wall hanging and a harvest gold hand mixer. I loved the 70's! But by far, the most unique gift we received was living and breathing.
A couple of my friends gave us a cockatiel, already finger trained and complete with a cage. Yes, folks, that would be a bird. Neither of us had ever had a bird. We named him "Hot Pongo" and he was a lot of fun. We taught him how to talk and he picked up some simple tunes. We even took him outside when we worked in the yard and he happily sat in a tree or bush and supervised. His wings were kept trimmed, but one time he did take flight and ended up at our neighbors house a few doors down before we caught up with him.
He spent his days with free run of wherever we happened to be living at the time, and his favorite place was always in front of a mirror, talking and singing happily. He discovered that if he put his head in a corner or in an enclosed space, it made his sounds really fun, so he experimented a lot with that. Hot Pongo was truly a gift that kept on giving.
We had another cockatiel in later years, but she wasn't near as much fun as our first baby bird.
Thankfully, we had nothing to be embarrassed about when we introduced our "parrot"... usually. Except when people found out that his favorite enclosed space to sing was actually into our mouths. Great acoustics, evidently.
May 27, 2018
Guard my soul and deliver me;
Do not let me be ashamed,
for I take refuge in You.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.
Psalm 23:20-21
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