Remember When...

In celebration of our 32nd wedding anniversary today, I thought I would share about our love story. Jim and I grew up in the same town, and went to the same high school. We knew each other and our families knew each other. When I was in junior high, like many kids my age, I had braces on my teeth. So did Jim. Our moms thought it would be a good idea to share the driving for our monthly appointments, so we almost always rode together alternating his mom or my mom taking us. I even remember his sister Janet (now my SIL and business partner) taking us one time when she was pregnant for Josh. (She drove fast back then too.)

Eventually, the braces came off, but we continued with check-ups at the orthodontist. Of course the time came when we could drive ourselves, and we still coordinated appointments, which also included my brother. One year for Christmas, my mom gave me tickets to see the musical 'Annie.' It just happened to be on an orthodontist appointment day, so I asked Jim if he wanted to go. (I guess we ditched Ted for that appointment.)

We count that as our 'first date', and although by then, he was a student at Purdue and I was at Hanover College, we continued to date as we could, mostly for special events and dances at one school or the other. From the photos I found, you may feel like you are now entering The Twilight Zone. Anyone remember that?

This was at a dance I attended with him at Purdue. The Pink Rose for all you AGRs in the bunch. The thing I remember most about this night was that when it came time for him to take me home from his fraternity house, his car was parked in, and we had to walk. From AGR to Harrison Hall, where I was staying with my friend Mendy. In our dress clothes. :) For those of you familiar with the PU campus, it's a looooonnnnng way. And the temperature was -3 or -13 (I'm not good at remembering numbers), so it was freezing! We stopped at one of the dorms along the way to warm up. We may have said 'I love you' on that cold trek across campus.

The AGR boys always have a barn dance, which is a fun time for all. Unlike the barn dances in modern times :), back in the olden days the dance was held at the house. Of course, these boys know how to decorate for a barn dance. No cardboard animal cutouts for them! They brought in straw, fence, and live animals to add to the atmosphere.

We continued to date, and my college roommates and sorority sisters will remember me starting to refer to him as 'my fiancé. He was really just my boyfriend, but it sounded so much better, don't you think? Of course he didn't know yet, but that was just a minor detail.

We did, eventually, get around to discussing hopes, dreams, and how many children we wanted :), and one year after our first date, he asked me to marry him. We went together to select the engagement ring, which I had already picked out and tried on since I worked at the jewelry store over Christmas vacation. :)

I could 'officially' call him my fiancé after the candlelight at the sorority house when we stand in a circle and pass the candle around until the girl to whom the 'token' has been given blows the candle out. If is blown out on the first time around, she has received a lavalier, two times around the circle, she has been pinned, and three times means she is engaged. I remember the song, and the excitement, not just of my candlelight, but of the many we had in the Phi Mu house at Hanover College.

We were engaged for six months before our wedding on July 25, 1981. I wrote about our wedding day here.

We honeymooned at Lake of the Ozarks, and settled into our first apartment in married student housing on Tower Drive at Purdue, since I was finishing my degree. His dad always likes to joke that it was a requirement in their family that all their kids marry someone with a Purdue degree, but it was just a joke. Kind of. :)

We were young.

Just a couple of weeks after the wedding, we gathered with his family for the cattle show at the Indiana State Fair. I hope those were milk shakes from the Dairy Bar. :)

We joined my friends back at Hanover for a dance or two, since they sometimes accused me of 'abandoning' them to get married!

I was a bridesmaid in my friend Beth's wedding in June of 1982, and David was born just five months later. From there, it's been a wild and wonderful winding road, when the days were sometimes long, and the years short.

We give thanks to God for the blessing of 32 years, 

and for the gift of each day to share life and love each other.

Happy Anniversary, Jim.

I love you!