Today is our 44th Wedding Anniversary

Can you imagine living your life with one person for 44 years? It really is the greatest thing knowing you can depend on that one person everyday of your life. The beginning was surreal - our meeting was love at first sight. It was on a Wednesday evening, April 23, 1964, when I saw him walk through the door, I said something like "oooo lala." He was a gorgeous specimen of a man. He was dressed in a pair of dark dress pants and wore a green shirt with a paisley design and a white pull over sweater. He also had a tan top coat on - that's what we called them then in 1964. He went straight to the "little boy's room" and I didn't give him a second thought at least not right then. I was with my group of friends at our weekly Wednesday night dance at Nellis Air Force Base. It was routine when I got off work at 9:00 PM, as my job as Supervisor at the telephone company on Fremont Street and Las Vegas Blvd., to go to the dance and meet my friends on Wednesday nights. I loved to dance and was quite good at shaking it up back then and I loved having fun.

Meeting Bob was unusual. His first and second impression was unusual and my whole life with him has certainly been unusual and definitely not boredom or routine. He asked me to dance, and we danced the rest of the night. After the dance, I took him to several of my favorite places around Vegas, and then home to meet my mom. My mom was my very best friend. She was a great judge of character and a lot of fun. Oh, my dad was in bed and he was to meet Bob later when Bob flew in from Travis AFB where he was stationed with the Air Force. He came to ask dad for my hand in marriage. Now, I didn't know this was going to happen yet. After visiting with mom for a while, I headed back towards Nellis where he was on TDY from Travis for a few days. Before going back to the base we parked just to talk. We were on Craig Road near the base where at that time there was nothing around - today there is every kind of business imaginable. Yes, all we did was talk. A policeman pulled up next to my car and flashed his flashlight inside the car and he said he was shocked. It was the first time he ever checked out a car without finding naked people doing something they shouldn't be doing - we weren't. The closest to naked we got was Bob showing me his holey socks. We talked and laughed all night. I think it was then after hearing his life and his dreams I realized if I hooked up with this guy, I would someday end up on a farm in Wickliffe, Kentucky. I'm a down and out city bred chick and guess what - I did become farmer's wife in Wickliffe, Kentucky many years later. But first before I even dreamed of what my life would be and after I dropped him off at the base, I hoped I'd hear from him again. It seemed like forever as the days went slowly by with no word from him. When you are young and impatient, a day seems like a year. The mail never comes fast enough.....yes, we exchanged addresses. And you know the phone never rings soon enough when you are waiting for that special call from that certain someone and I would never call him first!!!!

A week or so later his letter came. He did fly in to meet my dad and dad was thrilled to marry me off - I remember vividly dad rushing me down the long aisle of the church. We wore hoop skirt slips then and my hoop shirt was really hooping!!!! I remember whispering to dad to slow down, but he was grinning from one ear to the other, I wonder what daddy was thinking!!! We were married September 5th, at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Las Vegas on Maryland Parkway, in a simple ceremony. Neither one of us had our families except for my mom and dad, and all my friends. Our breakfast reception was held at the Sahara Hotel and wedding reception at my mom and dad's house in the backyard - it was fantastic.

Bob and I have lived in a lot of cities. Our first place was a studio apartment near Maryland Parkway and Charleston, in Las Vegas, then an apartment in Woodland Hills, California. There were many more addresses because in the beginning Bob was searching for himself. He worked at a lot of different types of jobs in many places. He's worked at unusual jobs like Inhalation Therapist, sail boat maker, welder, Air National Guard Hydraulic Tech, and working at Hoover Dam. I worked sometimes. I was a Bank Teller, and Bank Representative, I sold Home Interior and worked at a Sear's Catalog store. I attended business schools, and vocational schools and some college. I've worked at the gas company and the Hoover Dam Union office and for an association IFSEA, but my biggest job was raising five children and taking full time care of our son who was injured in the military and more importantly - fulfilling Bob's needs. And oh, I almost forgot - I worked on that farm in Wickliffe, Kentucky. It was an fulfilling wonderful experience I will never forget. Today we are both retired and are full time nappers.

Some days my life may seem boring and depressing, but its not because my life with Bob is boring or depressing - I yearn to share my days with Bob. He is quiet natured, but has a sense of humor behind his quiet composure. He leads and I follow although it may seem like I am leading because I am a wordy and expressive person - but I know where he wants to go and how he wants to get there. Because I want to be with him until I die, I know how to get where he wants to be. Marriage is like that - there's no 50-50 deal, there is sharing and compromising. I think compromising and sense of humor are the two most important elements necessary in an successful marriage. BUT, the most important above the love of each other is the love of God. Having God in our marriage has saved us from disaster in many situations. God has held us up and protected us together and helped us deal with our trials. He put us straight when we were making bad decisions and soothe our souls when we were hurting. Without God in our marriage, I wouldn't be writing this today.

Every day is a new day. Being married to my lover, best friend and my carpenter, regardless of what the world brings to my doorstep I am ready with Bob at my side.