Ronnie B. and me for forty-five years and still loving living life together. Ron thought we would celebrate every year with another wedding celebration since we so enjoyed our wedding day. It was full of family, friends and getting dressed up in spectacular attire. Little known fact is that I made my own wedding dress for only $25. I was thrifty even back then. Actually, I had a vision and knew making it would guarantee I got the pointed sleeves resting on my wrists.
We were both working and going to school when we married at age 21. To have everyone we wanted in and at our wedding it could only be June 4th. After finals but before everyone scattered for the summer.
While studying for finals it occurred to me that I wanted to be tan for our wedding. Now reading directions has never been my thing. So I didn't get the memo that you only used a tanning lamp with your eyes closed and for only a few minutes at a time. Needless to say, I got oozing, blisters on my neck and burned my eyes so badly that I couldn't work or even see for a couple days. My eyes were so painful but there was no permanent damage. A bit of makeup and nobody knew just how damaged my neck was on our big day.
A sweet memory is that we didn't want our coworkers to miss out on seeing us in our wedding clothes. So we left Ron's parent's house and our reception fully bride and groom. What we didn't think to grab were clothes for the next morning. Yep, we ended up at breakfast in our a bit wrinkled tux and wedding gown. Teri and Allen came and knocked on our door in the middle of the night and we scrambled to get back in our clothes. Ron broke the zipper on my dress while helping me, (TMI) So in the morning not only were we not exactly dressed for Denny's but my dress was only partially zipped. Last year, I gave Natalie my dress and it still has the broken zipper.
The forty-fifth anniversary is blue sapphire. Ron and I are going to the Bahamas in July with the Guthries and Paul and Cindy to enjoy ten days on Guthrie's luxurious catamaran. That is the best kind of blue we can imagine. The warm, crystal clear water is our happy place. So much better than a stone around my finger. As the years slip by, we are more and more aware that adventures are more valued than things that come tied with a bow.
So here is to us. Loving and living what is now our best life. The most important lesson we have learned is to enjoy the present. Connect with one another and those we are gifted with in life. It is fun to look back on pictures of us from decades ago. But my favorite pictures are the ones we take together gazing into each others eyes today. Fun fact~ the first photo we looked at each other rather than the camera was at our senior prom. The photographer kept insisting we look at him. I told Ron the picture was for us not the man with the camera.
To this day I make Ronnie B. look at me. He doesn't like to but does because he loves me. Those captured moments are most often followed by the laughter that I am still bossing him to have the pictures I want all these years later. There are more pictures of us together than apart. That is as it should be since we live our lives together. Oh how I love my Ronnie B and me.
Us- not you and i but us for we are one together.
Part of a poem I wrote to Ron in high school. I never imagined the life we would share when I penciled those words. But here we are still us, still together.
In Him,
Joyful
6-4-22
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