When I met my husband I was 18 almost 19 and he was 22. For some reason he seemed so much older and mature to me. Having come from California, ( destined to meet me I tell him), he had done and seen things I never had. I had been out of Sioux City 3 times. What a man of the world.
I liked him way before he noticed me and I admit to pursuing him shamelessly. I couldn't help it, I knew he was the one. He thought I was a silly but nice young lady and after awhile when I started showing up every where the poor man went he noticed me back. I had him teach me how to play pool, I was really bad back then and my friends would leave me so I had to beg a ride home. This was pre-arranged with my friends of course. He always took the longest way home and I was flattered to think it was because he couldn't bear to be parted from me. Turns out it was because he had it timed to listen to the entire side of his 8 track, LOL. Eventually I just grabbed him and gave him a kiss and boom, he was mine. The pheromones you know.
We decided to get married 2 weeks later because he had some time off then and it would be a year before he would get time off again. 2 weeks from the first kiss. Wow, I would kill my kids if they got married this quick.
Tradition in my family is the traditional type marriage. By that I mean either a justice of peace or a very small private marriage in a church with only the immediate family. No way was I going to do one of those huge white wedding things, Not for me. Fortunately Rick had never had his heart set on a wedding like that. To tell the truth until we met each other neither of us ever wanted to get married. On the back fringe of the hippy era I would have been happy to live together, not Rick, marriage or nothing. So marriage it was.
I was nervous about telling my mom and of course she wanted to know if we had to since we seemed to be rushing into it pretty fast. I told her yes, I had too, I loved him too much to live without him. She had two really bad marriages under her belt and didn't want me to make the same mistake. I had already told Rick if he hit me even once there was never going to be any forgiveness. Not after Daddy dearest. I was gun shy about that also. Fortunately that isn't Ricks nature. When he sent me a dozen roses the next day after we decided to get married my Mom was warmed to the idea. When she saw us together she then really relaxed. We were so much in love we couldn't take our eyes off each other and were always touching or looking at each other.
My wedding cost me I think about $75.00 dollars. I did not buy a white dress. I bought a long navy blue dress with white dots. It was perfect. Rick had on a corduroy jacket and dark pants. The worse part was my hair. I had my long straight hair done at the beauty shop. I was very specific about no ratting, the rage back then, but they didn't listen. When I saw the finished product I burst into tears. My mom was able to fix it somewhat but the look on Ricks face when he saw me was priceless. Who is this dork!
3 days before the wedding I was at work at the ice cream shop and my future MIL and her sisters dropped in to check me out. They had only met me once. I felt like I was under the microscope I tell you and I know they checking to see if I looked knocked up. What type of girl was their darling boy getting married too. They hadn't even known he was dating.
We got married at the Justice of Peace and my family and a couple of friends were there as were Ricks immediate family. We went to his house afterward for a small reception. Rick came from a very large family and I was kind of shocked but we had fun and I had a beautiful wedding cake.
After the reception we went to a Halloween party we didn't want to miss just because we got married. LOL. We went as Bride and Groom and took some good natured teasing but had a blast. Got so toasty we checked into a motel that night and didn't start our honeymoon until the next day.
We went camping on our honeymoon at Gaven's Point Dam. Camping in November! The camper was at his folks all packed and ready so we had to go to their house to get it. I remember sitting in the car not wanted to go in. "Rick, they will know we slept together, I can't face your parents". "Oh come on"' he said, "we're married, don't worry about it". Ok so we go in and his Dad says, how are you two and WINKS. I turned redder then this page.
Now I had never been to Gavens and it was lovely. This time of the year we had the park to ourself, Duh, and we had so much fun hiking and being a newly married couple. After 3 days the propane ran out though and even newlyweds couldn't get it warm enough in the camper so we went to a motel. I remember the first time we went out for breakfast I was sure everyone was looking at our shiny gold rings and knew were newly married.
Well the years were good, we had bad ones also, but we hung in there and here we are. 33 years later, a little longer in the tooth then we were and heavier. Still find ourselves looking at each other like that though and still feeling grateful we found each other out of everyone else in this big wide world.
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