Forty-five years. Already! How does that happen?
Forty-five years and ten days ago I came home from Southeast Asia. With ten day’s planning, Judy and I got married on a Saturday afternoon. We left the wedding chapel, changed clothes, and headed off immediately for a week-long driving honeymoon. Since I’d just gotten home from overseas, we didn’t really have any means except a little cash we’d saved up. As a wedding present, Brother Tom provided us with his Ford Falcon for the week. It was pretty new at the time. That was a special treat. Dad provided us with a gasoline credit card. We were set. No real plan. No reservations.
By Saturday night we were in Santa Barbara for a big dinner and our first night out together. We stopped at the Town and Country to see if they had a room, and what a nice surprise, they rented us a room, *and* gave us a complimentary upgrade to the Honeymoon Suite. From there we headed up the coast on Highway 1, stopping at San Simeon, Big Sur, and a couple nights in Yosemite. We crossed Tioga Pass, stopped at Bishop for a night and headed south on Highway 395. We were back to Long Beach in time for the wedding reception at Mom and Dad’s house in Carroll Park, held a week after the wedding. Fond memories.
We waited four years from the time we started dating until we thought we were old enough to get married. That seemed like forever. But at twenty and seventeen, it was finally time. We started out our married life together on a trip and here we are all these years later, still going. What a wonderful trip it has been.
Back then, we had prime rib for dinner. Tonight, steak and lobster on the grill at the coach at Lathrop State Park. Life’s a trip.
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