Happy Anniversary

It was November fourth a little after seven PM when a very old car driven by a very handsome young man stopped and asked a young girl where the roller skating rink was. Of course, I was the young girl on my way to a meeting of the Hi Y’s at the YWCA in Billings Montana. I had just gotten off the bus and was nearly at the Y. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, I suppose that was it, at least for me. We chatted for a few minutes after I told him that my mother didn’t allow us to go to the skating rink but that I knew it was on the south side of town. . . across the railroad tracks. He was making a nostalgic tour of places he had been when he was in the service. He had been stationed in Helena for training when he was in the Naval Air Corps. An accident had damaged one of his ears and he had been in Naval Hospitals for a long time. He asked if he could call me so I gave him my number and said “Yes.” He also gave me a lift to the Y. I know, I know, all of the above are crazy, unsafe things to do but remember, this was Montana in 1947 and it was a different time and place.

He did call and we went to a movie. I don’t remember the movie or much about the date although I do remember coming home and saying that was the man I was going to marry. After a whirlwind courtship of seven years, as I like to say, we did marry. It was exactly seven years later – November 4 at a few minutes after 7 PM - when we were pronounced husband and wife in a Presbyterian church in Palm Springs. There were just the four of us there: Mmmm, me, the pastor, his wife and a poor unsuspecting choir member.

Fast forward fifty-two years: Mmmm hasn’t changed much – he is still very fit and handsome. I, unfortunately, have aged but inside, we are still the same impetuous kids we always were.

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