Happy Anniversary, 32 years...

Happy anniversary Cathy! This makes 32 years. It's been a good 32 years and I think back on all the funny things that surround this date in history and I have to laugh.

If you don't know and many people, especially more recent friends don't know our two oldest kids Rose and Katie and often think the two youngest, Morgan and Mary are the only ones. Don't try to do the math on the kids ages. Cathy had three when we married. A few months before her passing my mom confessed that my dad had asked, "What's he thinking?"

We were married at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Lufkin. We did the Pre Canna classes and when we went to meet with the priest he had forgotten our appointment. The priest that greeted us, Father Linehan, who later became a great friend said we would have to come back later. Cathy exclaimed, "But we got a baby sitter!" I thought Father Mo's head was going to spin around. 

That priest that married us is no longer a priest. The old church, a new one was built, is now the parish hall. 

The day after our wedding we had already left for a honeymoon trip. Our friends Nancy and Bryan had stayed at our house overnight and before their drive back to their home in New Orleans they pulled the car around back to the the water faucet for a radiator fill. It had rained the evening before and if you know my yard the grass may look pretty good but the soil, depending on moisture may swallow small riding mowers in mud or be hard enough to allow Death Valley California style desert drag racing. On this day it was not that hard and they left incredible ruts getting unstuck. Later my parents visited with the kids to feed the old dog who suffered the indignity of staying there alone and Rose, who was all of 7 years old placed her hands on her hips and standing over the ruts said, "I can't believe they got so drunk they tried to drive around the house." I did not get that drunk but my mom certainly asked me about it. 

And finally there is the question of the missing wedding album. Some of the kids think that it's terrible we can't find it, not that the photos were all that great anyway. I think the few pictures that exist were made by friends and capture the moment better than the official photog did. Event photos have come a long way in 32 years and I noted the Quinceanera we played music for the other day had two very professional people working it to capture the memories. When I took the photo for this blog out of the frame to scan I found it to be a print from a long discarded printer on better that average printer paper. The picture below is probably by my best man and old college buddy Quince. 

I don't know where that wedding album is. It's not we have gone anywhere. We have been in this same old house 32 years. Hopefully we still have time left to laugh and look for it.