Forty-one Years--So Happy Together!

Today, August 18, is our wedding anniversary! (I know. I posted this early.) Don't we look like two innocent kids, and so young! Well, we were. In this picture (Get a load of that teased up hairdo!) we were only 23 and 21 and had been married two years. Just children! These days we look like anything BUT children. I'm not even going to post a recent photo of us.

Bill was in the Navy from 1969 to 1973. We had been married only two years when he enlisted rather than be drafted to the army. He did his basic at Great Lakes, A-School in Orlando, and was then back at Great Lakes for over two years. From April, 1972, until February 28, 1973, he was aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Midway in the Gulf of Tonkin off Viet Nam. He completed his service at Alameda, CA, before being discharged in May, 1973.

Over the first few years (say, the first 35?) we learned to really know each other--not in the sense that we thought we knew each other in the first year. We talked and arugued and laughed and loved and argued and cried (well, I did anyway) and argued our way through those years. We were so immature that after a huge disagreement (well, let's say fight), we might go DAYS without speaking. Come on, the rest of you know that adjustment to marriage is not a piece of cake--and I'm talking about two of the most stubborn-willed people I know!

But as the adjustment came about, ever so slowly, we now have almost no major disagreements. We know each other's moods, likes, dislikes, opinions, buttons not to push, and the little things that please one another. Now that we are through this adjustment period, I think this marriage is going to last!!

Just one more thing. I am married to a guy who is wonderful to me; who caters to my wants and needs; who treats my family with love and respect; who takes care of me when I need it; and why wouldn't he? He's been in training for 41 years! :)

The old song says, "My, how time slips away!" So true . . . and it slips away so fast. This was taken almost exactly thirty years later at Chris & Anita's wedding.

This was about 1980 when Bryan was ten, Chris was seven, and Melanie was four. Of course, I have the boys in matching shirts (not old enough to complain . . . at least enough to change my mind); Melanie is in a dress that my Mom made for her.

I really treasure pictures like the previous one and this one. Taken in 1997, Bryan was Chris' best man at their wedding while Melanie was one of Anita's bridesmaids. Melanie was a new bride of only six months. She looks like a child, doesn't she? Just like her mother, she married at twenty-one. Bryan had not yet met his bride Erica whom he married in 1999.

Christmas, 2004. Cole, Kady, Jonah, Alex, Liam, and Kody had to sit for a picture before they could dive into the presents under the tree. These were our grandchildren at that time, but two years later Chris and Anita gave us one more, Creed. They have all grown up so fast! This hardly looks like them anymore. It's so great when we can get them all home at the same time. Yes, lots of noise, but so much fun! Do we spoil them? Bill says that I do, but he always says it with a smile. They are all just tops in our book.

From 1985 to 1993, Bill served as President of the Village Board of our town (in other words, as mayor). Here he is being sworn in as mayor again in 2005. It isn't that he doesn't have enough to do as senior partner in his CPA firm or working as treasurer of our local church board as well as our church district. Not at all! Some of the citizens asked him to run as they wanted a change in leadership. Thankfully, he has just eight months left in this term and does not plan to run again.

Since our first time traveling on a motorcycle in 1982, we have loved it! In the beginning we left our children with grandparents while we traveled. However, in 1990 I was tired of leaving them behind, so Bryan and Chris rode their own bikes with Melanie on behind Chris. After doing very well handling themselves and their bikes in a downpour the first two days, Bill was more at ease with their ability; therefore, he was able to relax and enjoy the trip.

In the past twenty-six years we have traveled with family and friends to Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, through WY and MT; to Albuquerque, NM (a goldwing rally); to Grand Canyon; to Seattle, WA, (to visit Bryan); and always, always back to CO before returning home. Below are more recent photos of our enjoying this time with family and friends.

Bill and I are ready to take off on another day of our trip to Colorado with friends.

We are riding over Independence Pass from Aspen, CO.

Anytime spent with our friends, Rich and Dee, is lots of fun.

We started out in '82 traveling with Bill, Melodye, John and Becky and other family members. These two couples still travel by motorcycle, and sometimes we go together. It is a blast!