ADVENTURES OF THE NEWLYWEDS

Love at first sight is easy to understand.  It’s when two people have been looking at each other for years that it becomes a miracle!

Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

1 Corinthians 13:5

Today is my husband’s and my 54^th wedding anniversary! 

I want to take this opportunity to wish my hubby, the love of my life, a very happy anniversary!  I love you, Sweetheart!

I posted a blog about our marriage last November titled “‘Til Death Do Us Part.”  That post told the nitty gritty about the work it takes to stay married this long.  (But it’s worth it!)  Today’s post is more lighthearted as I recall some silly things that happened at our wedding and honeymoon.

June 28, 1969, was a scorching, humid summer day.

Air conditioning was less common back then than it is today.  I dressed for the wedding at my parents’ home, which wasn’t air-conditioned.  I was already sweating because I was nervous, and the humidity didn’t make it any easier to get into my pantyhose! 

My bridesmaids were also getting ready, and the long zipper up the back of the dress of one of my bridesmaids came entirely apart.  I don’t know if we can attribute that to the heat, but it was a disaster!  In an effort not to upset the bride, it was decided not to tell me about this calamity.  Fortunately, someone was available to replace the zipper before the wedding ceremony began, and I was none the wiser.  Thank goodness for that!

Limos weren’t used in those days, so we rode to the church in our neighbor’s car because they had the newest, sharpest car we knew of.  However, it didn’t have air conditioning, and we kept the windows rolled up because I didn’t want to mess up my hair.  So, it was a hot, sweaty ride to the church.

The church also wasn’t air-conditioned.

I watched as the sweat rolled down the face of the minister who was marrying us.  My hands were sweaty, so my new husband had trouble slipping the wedding band onto my finger.  My husband’s hands were sweaty and swollen from the construction work he was doing that summer, so I could only get his ring on up to his second knuckle.  After the ceremony, he worked on getting the ring past his knuckle and all the way on.  Thus, his ring finger appeared red and puffy in a close-up photo of my hand on his, highlighting our new wedding rings.

In those days, guests attending the wedding threw rice at the newlyweds as they left the church.  My bridesmaids and I had spent an afternoon making little bags of rice with small pieces of netting the same color as the bridesmaids’ dresses, tied with satin ribbon.  These cute little bags of rice were placed in a lovely, decorated basket to be handed out to guests at the church—except we forgot to bring them.  They were still sitting on the dining room table of my parents’ home.

We had our reception at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

You guessed it—it wasn’t air-conditioned.  But my biggest concern occurred when we arrived at the hall.  The Knights of Columbus annual 4^th of July carnival was going on in the parking lot right outside the hall where our wedding reception was taking place!  Nobody connected with the Knights of Columbus mentioned this little detail when we signed the contract for our wedding reception!  As it turned out, it wasn’t such a disaster.  Some guests from the wedding went out to enjoy the carnival, and one guest returned with a radio he had won at one of the games!  And at least one couple attending the carnival came into the wedding and enjoyed themselves.  They approached my husband and me and shook our hands, saying, “You don’t know us, but we were at the carnival, and we wanted to wish you the very best of luck in your marriage!”

Inside the hall, it was hot, but it didn’t interfere with the guests’ enjoyment.  It was a huge Polish wedding, and everyone danced and had a good time.  We were all used to sweating by that time. 

At one point, I looked over at the table holding our 5-tiered wedding cake, and the cake seemed to be leaning to one side.  I mentioned this to someone, but they didn’t notice it and attributed what I saw to being a fussy bride.  However, a short while later, I saw that the cake had been disassembled, and the five tiers were spread around the table.  An emergency call was made to the baker, who came out to the reception and reassembled the cake, fortifying it to prevent its tipping over.

Our honeymoon had its humorous moments too.

We drove to Miami Beach from Chicago in our beater of a car, having to stop and put oil in every 100 miles or so.  There was a significant leak, which we knew about, so we had packed a case of motor oil along with everything else.

One night, just before entering the Smoky Mountains National Park, we decided we’d better not try to drive through the mountains at night.  So, at 11:00pm, we tried to find a room in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Finally, we found a hotel with a vacancy, and as we put the key in the lock and opened the door to the room, a man in the bed popped up and shouted at us to get out!  The hotel had no other rooms, so we spent that night sleeping in the car.

We made it safely to our destination of Miami Beach, and our first full day there was spent playing in the waves and enjoying the beach.  Not a very good idea for a couple of pale-skinned newlyweds—we got sunburned so badly that we couldn’t even touch each other for several days!

All these little incidents make for fond memories.

We don’t remember all that went right that day as much as we remember the few things that went wrong.  Still, it makes the entire event even more enjoyable as we laugh at the memories.  The ensuing 54 years have had their joys and sorrows, events big and small, the miraculous times and the ridiculous times, and the bitter along with the sweet times.  We remember all of them with pleasant fondness as they define our life together. 

Happy 54^th Anniversary, my Love—you’re still the one!