daily java

Daily Java:

Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. (Proverbs 5:18)

Forty one years ago today, we were married at the Sun Valley Church of Christ in Houston, TX, by my father.

I was in Germany in the army and came home on the fifth of January, a Tuesday. We had to hurry to get our blood tests and all so we could get the marriage license. That took at least two days, but we made it and got our license on Friday.

I had grown a mustache while I was in Germany even though I knew she had expressed displeasure at mustaches before. So when I got off the plane, there it was. She had gotten glasses and wore them. We met each other with our new accessories and didn’t really care.

The rehearsal dinner, and the wedding for that matter, were simple. We had a lot of people come to the rehearsal dinner as I recall. Probably just both families, but it seemed a lot. My mother made spaghetti for everyone.

Afterwards I took off with my best man, Rick Fuller, to go do something. I do not remember what, but it wasn’t a night of debauchery or anything since we were both good guys.

I have found out in the past few weeks that my wife (my fiance) was miffed when I took off with Ricky. She wanted to be with me, but I was gone. Funny what you find out after so long.

The morning of the wedding, it seemed that she and I were the only calm ones. The firs thing my mother did was gripe at me for not shaving as closely as she thought I should have. I found out just recently that it irritated Ella, too. I commented that it was good enough for the army and they are notoriously picky.

Again, it is funny what you find out later.

The wedding went off without a hitch. Ella’s maid of honor was her sister, Joyce. Although, it was a simple wedding, it was extremely well-attended, as both our parents had a lot of friends in their churches.

I don’t remember what music was used at all. I do know it was all sung acappella since we were Church of Christ. But I have no real recollection of it.

I do remember my bride walking down the aisle with her dad, who was reluctant to give her to me. She was so beautiful.

The reception afterwards I vaguely remember. We had cake and this punch that was popular at the time – lime sherbet and ginger ale.

We toasted each other with punch (we were Church of Christ after all) and finally got to leave. She wore her trousseau, a plaid outfit with a cape.

The car was predictably marked up, although Ella had threatened the kids with their lives if they marked up her relatively new white Ford Galaxie 500. Someone had tied cans to the back, but they came off when I backed up and took off.

And we were off to Galveston for our honeymoon.

Forty-one years later. It is hard to realize that it has been so long. We are in what is in our culture a long-term marriage. And we intend to stay in it.

I loved this woman when I saw her. and I will love her until I die.