Fifty-eight Years

   Today we are celebrating 58 years of marriage. When I look at our wedding picture I see a blissfully ignorant 19-year-old bride who didn't know as much as she thought she did. Thankfully, the groom was 23 and had a little more sense than the bride.

   I also see a bride who sweated her way through a hot summer day with no AC in a long-sleeved dress made of lace over taffeta that did not breathe. In those days, skirts were knee length. Floor-length wedding dresses were considered worldly and forbidden. I made my dress about mid-calf which was about as long as I dared. I'm glad I did that because now it would be embarrassing to have a skirt on my wedding picture as short as I normally wore them. Underneath the skirt was a half slip made of stiff netting to make the skirt stand out. That fashion was going out of style but a wedding dress still needed a stiff slip. Today, women in our church wear long skirts every day with the approval of the church, and I appreciate the modesty.

   Flowers were also not allowed in weddings in the 1960s. Brides usually carried a Bible with a normal black cover or a lacy hankie. I wanted a white Bible but that was considered extravagant since it would only be used for the wedding. I got permission from the bishop to cover my Bible with the same fabric as my dress and have two white ribbons trailing from it. There were red roses and ivy scattered on the tables at the reception. After the meal I picked up a bouquet which I carried the rest of the day.

   We left that evening for the West Coast and traveled as far as Chambersburg before we got a motel. The next morning we attended the service at the Chambersburg Mennonite Church where one of my friends was a member. Our route the next couple weeks took us south to Mississippi, Texas, just across the border into Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, and then east through the Midwest. We came home to settle into a rented house while we built a new house. We moved into the new house with our first child in the fifteenth month of our marriage and still live there.

   

   Many things have changed in 58 years. Life itself is a series of changes. One thing that has not changed is our commitment to each other. We went into it fully intending to stay the course. There have been ups and downs, but that is to be expected. The longer it goes the more I treasure each day. I know our time on earth is running out and I am very grateful God has granted us 58 years together.