Happily Married...18 Years!

Eighteen years ago tomorrow...

It was a beautiful day, just like today!  Blue, cloudless sky, cool and crisp...picture perfect...our wedding day...

These lovely ladies were my bridesmaids...and my two adorable nieces...now 23 and 20 years old...were my flowergirls. 

Jim's groomsmen and ushers...(some of them had a little more hair eighteen years ago!  : )

This is one of my favorite pictures.  After the ceremony, at the back of the Church, my 91 year old Grandpa was giving us advice!  His health was failing, but we are so glad he, and several other grandparents, were able to be at our wedding...

Jim was known to be a bit...ahem.."fashionably challenged".  Unbeknownst to him, his groomsmen raided his closet, and during the reception, put on a fashion show, especially scripted to fit him. 

l-r:  Phil sports the "Show Ease Stall Co, skiing look",  Jeff models the "MGB cruising look" (Jim's first car was a MGB), Dave sports the "European farmer" look (Jim bought that hat on a trip to Austria long ago), and Craig models the "Motorcycle cruiser" look...we laughed until our sides ached... 

And last but not least...my brother in law has a "special talent" for writing songs about just about anything.  I asked him to write a song for Jim at our wedding, and he took the liberty to write it about how we met.  (We met when I cashed his paycheck at the drive up window at the local bank).  My sisters then sang it at the reception, to the tune of "The Lady and the Crocodile"...



It happened this way, on a sunny, summer day

As he pulled in the bank drive-thru

He said "My what a lass, sitting there behind the glass...

Could I do business with you?"

Such a handsome man with a studly roofer's tan

What was a girl to do?

So she told him with a grin, "send your money right on in

And I will take good care of you!"

But he just couldn't stay, 'cause the Lord called him away

To the other side of the world

And the lovely lass was stuck there behind the glass

A poor and lonely girl...

So she spent the time counting nickels, counting dimes,

Her nerves were all awhirl

When her drive-thru man came home

She said, "You'd better stay at home

'cause I really want to be your girl!"

It was Christmas in the land when the ring went on her hand

He said, "May I marry you?

Won't you come with me, said the boy on bended knee

Milk the cows and feed them too?"

"Oh yes!" she said, "in October we can wed.

Without you, what would I do?

Though I love to handle green

I'd rather be a dairy queen...

So come on, we've got some chores to do!"

And there you have it...that was just the beginning! 

*wedding photos taken by Charles Studio...used by permission