49 and Counting

Forty-nine years ago Janet and I exchanged vows of marital commitment before God and two witnesses – her mother, her matron-of-honor, and my father, my best man.

It was a hot Sunday day and as we were on the backside of a big church split, we did not have a church building so we used one made available to us.  We had a large attendance and the AC in the fellowship hall was out – UGH!

I had gone to great efforts to make my car, a ’71 Mercury Cyclone, secure such as installing locking lug nuts, putting on a special hood lock and removing the door lock plungers BUT to no avail!  A group got both the hood and a door opened and worked it over to the point we could not take it.  We had to take Janet’s brother’s older four door Buick.

After the reception, we drove for a couple of hours heading for a nice steakhouse we knew of only to find that the highway in front was torn up and the restaurant closed.  We were hungry so we ate at McDonalds.  In remembrance of that deal, we almost every anniversary hit a McDonalds.  When in Boston in 2003, we had a lobster sandwich at McDonalds.  Just today we had a soft drink at an area McDonalds.

This morning, at a men’s study in Elkhorn, the text considered was Genesis 29-30 which is about Jacob’s marriage to Leah and then Rachel.  It was timely as it afforded me an opportunity to talk a little about our dating, marriage and parental interactions once married.

I talked about arranged marriages, the four loves of marriage, the duty of fathers to protect a daughter and the need for parents to release children once they are married.  I had previously told them about the father handing an umbrella of authority to the man marrying his daughter and that came up in the discussions.

Thanks for your prayers and support over the years without such we might have stumbled and parted, but we believe that because of a firm reliance on God, along with good examples and the prayers of many, we are good.

We now look at each other and wonder what in the world has happened?

Forty-nine can’t be true.  Unbelievable!  WOW!  Yet, here we are!

Next year will be 50 and half of that will have been in Gretna!  That too is a WOW!

Forward we go – together!