Happy Anniversary!

In the rush of the hollydaze I always seem to almost forget another very important date, my parents' wedding anniversary. This year I didn't want to forget, so I "banked" this blog post months ago for release today.

Happy 41st Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Auntie Nettie's parents in 1967, around the date of their wedding. They were both in their very early 20s, but Mom was the "older woman." You go Dad!

Many years ago for a Church bulletin, my mother wrote a little essay on how she and Dad met. It's not quite the story that my brothers and I grew up hearing, but it's pretty close.

Which version of this courtship do you want? Dad tells the children that Mom chased him, he tripped on his untied shoe lace, could not get away, and then Mom caught him. Mom remembers that she was blown away when Dad asked her on bended knee to marry him because most of their time together previously had been spent listening to Dad’s problems with girlfriends in Corpus Christi, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee. [Go Pop! You dog, you!] Whichever version one believes, the facts are that Mom was teaching junior high school English in Norfolk, Virginia and Dad was transferred to Norfolk by the Navy for a three month school. They met at the Norfolk Ward after Easter. This was the Vietnam era; therefore, there were as many as twenty LDS single service men in the ward at one time. They had firesides, dances, group activities all the time, as many of the group as could getting together and getting to know one another. They all got along well and were friends helping each other to grow in the gospel and careers. Most of the servicemen were not officers nor returned missionaries but were faithful to the Priesthood and the Church. Those who were not did not look up the Church and got lost on the bases of ships. Anyway, Mom and Dad became friends, did a lot of talking, and after Dad either got on bended knee or tripped on that shoe lace and Mom caught him, they have continued to be friends and to do a lot of talking for the last [forty plus] years.

Thanks to my colleague T*** for this lovely present for last year's anniversary; the infamous shoe lace is at the bottom of the art work. It's done up here -- to symbolize their lasting tie.