Seems like an eternity but today is 41st anniversary. I left the rifle range at Quantico USMC base, rushed to Washington National and nearly missed my flight on July 1st to Huntsville Ala then to Cullman Ala for a quick wedding rehearsal walk through and dinner after with a few family and friends of mine who came up to watch, help and participate in the wedding. Got up next morning and my Father in Law married us at 2:00 pm, a quick wedding reception at the church with typical Baptist Green Sticky punch (Lime Sherbet and ginger ale I think) and cake then to Atlanta on our way back to Quantico to start our life together.
Our son will be 40 the end of this month and our daughter will be 38 the end of next month. Son was born in Okinawa while I was stationed there then daughter in Beaufort SC when we were at Parris Island. Since then we traveled to a few more USMC bases and after I got out I worked mostly overseas and my wife and I have lived on, worked at or visited 5 continents, over 40 countries, hosted 7 different foreign exchange students, and are now working on spoiling 4 grandchildren aged from 18 months to 12 years old. BTW - the crab sorcerer (witch doctor) in Rhumsiki Cameroon in west Africa, a few hundred yards from the Nigerian border, predicted we would have 4 grandkids way before either of our kids were out of school or even dating anyone.
I finished my last overseas assignment in Guinea in west Africa about 5 years ago, my wife retired as the local high school band director about then and we have tried to settle into the retirement life. She still takes pictures as a free lance photographer and quilts and sews and I bought the mill to help occupy my time when not fishing or hunting or watching the three local granddaughters.
Thanks for sharing this momentous event with us. My wife already got her 41 roses delivered and we'll head out for a traditional anniversary lunch in a few hours.
Congratulations and Thank You for sharing your memories. smiley_love
Congrats and a happy anniversary.
Today is 35 years for us.
It has been shaken and tried , some dark valleys and some steep cliffs that looked impossable to scale. But God is faithfull in sustaining us and carried us when faith was all that we had left.
Happy anniversary, 8). Have a great day. Our 41st will oct 9th.
Thanks for your service, and congrats on hanging in there, we just went past our 48th! Takes a lot to hold on that long, and a few of us do.
WV: congrats on 41, today is our 42nd! What in the early years would have seemed like an eternity, has happened upon us rather quickly it seems. Good health be willing, we will share 50 together and many more if she'll still have me 8).
Great story's sounds like you had a very interesting life.
RJ, Tex & Brad,
I tell folks when I hit 50 I automatically qualify for sainthood. :D Congrats to you guys too.
Congrats and Semper Fi.
Congratulations WV and others!
OMG,
I just realized that I am working on 43. Years, that is, not DBH :).
we will celebrate 25 on the drive home from the pig roast
What a legacy WV, CONGRATULATIONS! I'm working on year #20 with my high school sweatheart. We get along good! Got 4 kids to prove it! :D
Congrats Harold,
Reading some of your posts I see our professional lives have had an uncanny parallel, different industries but the same footprint. Only continent I haven't set foot on is Australia. You obviously found a very independent lady to share your life, just as I did, it takes that mindset to deal with the long absences where they have to wear all the hats, and then when our tours are over and they gracefully allow us to resume our roles they do it without pointing out that they handled it quite well while we were gone.
I found that after one tour I now lived in Pennsylvania, where my wife bought our farm, a double wide, had it delivered, a septic installed, and was all moved in when I got back. All with a 5 year old at her side and another only a couple of months off.
I'm working on 41 this year, I tell everyone 10 more to parole, and my wife interjects that parole is dependent on good behavior, I think she's planning on extending the sentence. At least I hope so. Not sure how I got so lucky.
Congrats on 41, wish you a good many more, some day when I'm visiting kin in WV I'll check in with you and see if you're up for a visit.
Joe
Congrats :)
Dad says the first 65 are the hardest.
Congrats,
Is your wife from Cullman?
YH,
Yes. She was from the community of Vinemont and went to HS at Cullman then to AU where we met. We are going to her 45 class reunion on 21st of this month.
Quote from: Don P on July 02, 2018, 09:55:57 PM
Congrats :)
Dad says the first 65 are the hardest.
After that you just won't care.
Yes Dear!Gerald
Congrats on 41, world traveler! ...and all you other long-term hitched-hikers :D :D. Will be 40 yrs in Oct this year for us, God willing. All the best, Rob.
Congratulations on 41, in that time some have had 3-4 spouses.
My bride and I celebrate 51 in Oct. We were high school sweethearts, been together since 10th grade.
Yeah, I have known several people who used the excuse they were on the "Catch and Release Plan".
Every now and then you need to refer to them as "My future ex-wife" just to keep them off balance.
I still like MagicMan's statement that the reason he and Miz Pat never got divorced was neither wanted to get stuck with the kids. I used to tell folks if my daughter had been born first she'd have been an only child because she was so much trouble. (Not true - both kids were always pretty good and turned out to be real good adults and respected members of their communities.)
Well, I put up with her for another year. Boy is she lucky!
This year shows us all healthy and with a new 4 month old granddaughter to show for our efforts since our last anniversary. I guess it has been a good year.
And another healthy and good year to both of you.
congrats! yes my wife and I got married for the first time at ages 34 and 38, now married over 20 years. We tell folks, we skipped our first two divorces and jumped in at our third marriage.
We hit 42 a couple of months back. It speaks well to both of you that you have found a partnership that lasts and worked to make it stick. Congratulations.
This year my wife was a poll worker at a special election on our anniversary, so I never did see her that day. Our 20th was spent watching the kids play T-ball.
Hope you do something nice with the day.
OG,
As soon as the florist gets here with her 41 live and 1 silk rose we will load up and go to a Chinese joint for lunch. I got in the habit of sending her one rose for every year we have been married and I told her it would be a lot cheaper if I got silk roses then each year I could just buy one more and she could add it to the bouquet. I figured I'd ease into it this year and see if it works. If not I can blatantly lie and tell her the florist must have run out and sneaked in a fake one. :D (They just came and I can't spot the fake one. We will see in a week or two if the others fade and it doesn't and she catches me at it. ;D)
When we first married because of 4th of July issues the only thing open was a Chinese place so we got in a habit of going to one every year as a sort of momento. She thinks it is sweet. ( I think of all the money I have saved feeding her Chinese instead of steak and lobster or such for 40+ years. ;))
My mom, SIL, brother, mom are here from Fla along with 2 granddaughters and we will all make an outing of it.
Congrats to you who are celebrating long term marriages.
Also thanks to all you vets for your service.
Second time around for Linda and I and we celebrated 39 years on flag day
Congrats to all, and yes WE too have made it another year, now at 43. A familiar song from Loggins and Messina still resonates with me. In 1976 it was: "Even though we ain't got money....(forward to 2019), "I'm still in love with you honey". It's kinda been our theme song all these years, although now we're not so broke ;D. Many more years of happiness to all who are married or are planning to be. Enjoy your time together.
Congratulations to all of you lucky happy couples. Yes, I purposefully wrote and struck "lucky" indication that there is no luck in a long term marriage, and there are very few long term marriages that are not also happy. smiley_love
Great history and congrats on 41!
The Doc and I celebrated our 17th last Sunday. We met 20 years ago when she was finishing vet school. We were both in our late 30's. First (and only!) marriage for us both.
Enjoy the years!
Scott
Thanks to all. It was 42 years today. The 41 was recycling last years thread. We had a good meal and a real good time with the family here to help celebrate.
Congrats on 41 sounds like you guys have kept busy all the way through. Enjoy.
Congratulations! It just keeps getting better too I'll bet.
Congratulation's on 42 8) we'll catch up to y'all in Oct ;).
Great job on reaching your 42 years!
36 years for us. This year we are seeing 2 weddings and twins in a month