Their First Few Hours as One

My Mom and Dad celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary yesterday. It was a quiet day for them. My Dad said they visited with my brother John, enjoyed dinner, and played a game of Scrabble. Eleven years ago my siblings and I planned a surprise party for their 50th anniversary. It was quite an undertaking but it had been a sweet way to gather our parents’ loved ones together and to witness the love and respect so many people have for them. Wanting to mark yesterday in a special way, I dug out some old wedding pictures I had recently received from my cousin Cathy. She had acquired them while cleaning out the house of her late father, my Uncle Don, Mom’s brother. I scanned them and sent them along to my siblings and to my parents.

The photographs are precious. They show my Mom and Dad together outside where snow is on the ground, my Mom wrapped in a pretty white mink coat. In one shot they are laughing together. Oh how I have always loved watching them laugh.

When I was married in 1988, I knew I wanted to wear my Mom's dress. I never considered any other. I never went shopping for a different option. I was so grateful that her dress fit. We had someone fix the veil on her hat but that was it. Everything else was perfect and nothing else needed restoration! It hadn't even been professionally preserved!! The color aged consistently and beautifully. It was a gorgeous ecru color. It had tiny little buttons all the way down the front from the Peter Pan collar to the start of the skirt. The gown is a luxurious one made of satin and lace. I've always known there is NO WAY I could have ever found a more perfect dress.

In another picture, Mom has changed out of her wedding gown and she and Dad are about to take off on their honeymoon after the wedding reception. I knew they had driven to their first home, a good six hours away, but I did not know any other particulars. Those aren’t the type of details a daughter asks her parents after all!

However, after seeing the pictures, Dad wrote and told me, “Anne, The photos sure took Mom and I back some 61 years-----snow and all -----same white stuff that I see outside our house to day. The photos sure bring back memories ----after the wedding it was a long six plus hour drive to our apartment here in town. We had supper...at a JJ Newberry's store sitting on a stool at the counter. Your father was a real high roller with the few bucks that he had in his pocket. We also stopped to take a picture of the Maine State House in Augusta. When we arrived...it was dark and the wind was blowing a gale across the road and the temperature was down close to zero or lower----I also remember the temperature on Monday morning the day I went to the mill ----it was 25 below zero. No earth warming that winter.”

Today I returned to the pile of pictures from Cathy. Sure enough, there were two pictures taken at the State House. They had each taken a picture of their new spouse. These photographs made me smile even more than the previous ones. For these marked the first few hours of my parents as they made their solo journey into married life together. Two individuals now joined as one. What an adventure for a young couple. And how blessed my four siblings and I have been to share our lives with them.