30 Years Ago Today...

I married the greatest man for me!

I look back and I have absolutely NO idea how that many years have come and gone! I assume that that is a very good sign. LOL! It is the people who those years would have dragged on and on who would have been the ones to feel sorry for.

I look back at that day with so much love and happiness. I awakened early that morning on the top bunk bed in the bedroom that I shared with Lori and Lona Sue. The sunshine swept over me. My heart was filled with joy as I forecast how my special day would go and how many years I had to look forward to with my beloved, Stanley. At the same time, I was concerned that Stan might not be as excited about what the day held as I did. I've always been told that most men don't get that excited over romance...

Grandma had asked Stan and his brother, George, to deliver a pair of chairs to an auction that her friend was having that day. I actually followed them...from a distance to make sure that they didn't skip town without me. Ha! Ha! All must've went well because Stan was waiting up by the alter when it was time for our wedding.

Grandma was who we had chosen to be our wedding coordinator. It was up to her to tell everyone in the wedding party when they needed to walk down the aisle. When it was just about time for Daddy and I to make our walk, I looked out over the sanctuary. Given the fact that I am not good with big groups of people especially when I will be in the spotlight, I grew very nervous instantly. I told Daddy that I didn't think I could do this afterall. He must've taken me seriously. All of a sudden, he said "the he** you can't and we were up and running. Running down the aisle practically. Grandma didn't even have to tell you that it was time!

Ever since I was a little girl, it had always been my dream that I would wear Mama's wedding dress. I carried out that dream that afternoon. The only problem was that my waist was bigger than Mama's had been when she married Daddy. I was also not as tall. My mother-in-law had worked her magic on the waistline so it now fitted me perfectly. I had decided to just carry the excess length. But since Daddy was afraid that I was going to leave Stan standing at the alter, I had not gathered the excess BEFORE our race to the front of the church! I was tripping all over the place!!! Of course, by now, everyone had turned their heads to watch the bride walking to her groom. It was the one and only time that I actually had heard people laughing for such an event! LOL!!!

The day went very well after that...until it was time to leave for our honeymoon. Stan drove a pickup that was having some mechanical issues. Daddy recommended that we take the family car on our romantic getaway. We headed west towards Colorado. Just a few miles out of Leoti, we realized that we had a flat tire. We pulled over so that Stan could change it. I remained in the car. Though Stan had turned off the vehicle, I still needed to listen to the radio. No problem. I just turned the battery on to listen. (You know where I am going with this, don't you?) Yeppers, by the time that Stan had replaced the tire and walked to the front of the car, our battery was dead. He also realized that he had not gone to the bathrook before we left Leoti. Again, no problem. He would just relieve himself as we waited for some nice motorist to come along and help us. Unfortunately, before he had finished, he heard a car coming towards us. He quickly tried to finish up everything but as he was tucking everythng back in, he managed to leave a very damp spot in his suit pants. LOL!!! He was soooo embarrassed. As it turned out, that man stopped to help us. Soon we were on our way to Colorado again!

I would like to say that from that point on, everything was as smooth as silk. I would be lying though. An hour or so down the road, we began having more problems with the car. Those continued until we literally glided down a hill to the motel in Limon, Colorado where we would spend our wedding night. Come to find out, we had a bad fuel filter.

Still after all of these funny episodes, we had a great honeymoon!

Through the years, God has blessed us with a terrific son, Adam, who is almost 32 now. He came into our life when he was already 10. A couple of years later, we adopted him. Today, he married the greatest daughter-in-law and they live in Scott City.

In 1997, He blessed us with our Leighlyn. She is now 13 and is a 7th grader.

Abigayle arrived in 2002 just in time to save my life, literally. She is a 2nd grader.

All of our children bring us so much joy! God gave us the best that life had to offer!

So now we look forward to hopefully many more years to come. I cannot imagine going through life with anyone else than my Danley...

Thank You, Lord for giving Stanley to me!

VLE-B