I married the love of my life
45-years ago on December 28, 1975 and it has been a wild and wonderful ride.
Although we went to the same high
school, we never REALLY met there (okay, I punched him one time when he was a hall
monitor and attempted to stop me from going to my classroom after the “switch”
was over); we actually MET a few years later as volunteers in the NYC Auxiliary
Police. I was already a member of our unit when he signed up and, as Personnel
Officer, I had to interview him. He passed and was admitted into our unit… but
neither of us liked each other, lol.
However, as time went on we did
eventually go out on a date and we both seemed to enjoy each other’s company…
he asked me out for the following weekend. Within two weeks, he proposed, I
said NO (not because I didn’t like him, I just didn’t think I was ready) — he
was “persistent” and the following morning we announced our engagement. Then I
went away for eight weeks to work at a summer stock theatre, he drove up to
visit me several times.
By the time I returned home
everyone wanted to know if we had set a date, we hadn’t yet. On December 28,
1974 we attended a formal ceremony for my Dad at the local J.W.V. chapter, they
were honoring him for his community service as the local Auxiliary Police
Captain as well as his WW2 service in the Army Corps of Engineers. While there,
once again Mark and I received a multitude of questions about the date of our
wedding until we both just looked at each other, smiled, and responded “One
year from today”.
We did start discussing what kind
of wedding we wanted, I was all for a small Rabbi’s study with just our
immediate families present. Although Mark was easy going, his father and one of
my aunt’s made it difficult to plan something intimate. We wound up
compromising on a guest list of 90 (approximately 80 showed), both of his folks
were pleased, the aunt made arguments right up to the wedding (and no, she was
not paying for it!).
The day of the wedding was…
memorable to say the least. My mom was totally stressed dealing with the intrusive
aunt, on the way to the catering hall my sister (my Matron-of-Honor) fell down
a flight of stairs and we thought she had broken her leg; trooper that she is,
she managed to pull herself together and promised to be able to “hobble down
the aisle” for her little sister, and I hadn’t been able to reach Mark (before
the era of cellphones) and we arrived so late that he had almost given up waiting.
Everything was finally underway! We
posed for an array of photos, and then the ceremony began. We were married!!!!!
Then… my poor Mom, a diabetic, had a serious low-blood sugar reaction to all
the stress and upset about my sister’s tumble and she wound up spending the majority
of party time lying down in the bridal suite while my Dad took juices to her;
she wouldn’t leave and go to the hospital. Finally, the end of the party came,
my mom was able to be present for the latter half of the party and in time to
see me throw my bouquet and leave with my new husband.
Maybe we should have realized that
our wedding day was a forecast of our marriage with all of our ups and downs,
but in the end we drove off TOGETHER excited about our new life. We weathered
crazy downstairs neighbors, the deaths of all four parents (in a five year
period), a few miscarriages, buying a house, the birth of our daughter, the
preemie birth of our son, ups and down in jobs and finances, seeing both of our
children grow into phenomenal adults and (after a few false starts) settle down
in their own homes with loves that are terrific people, we survived a serious
illness, and finally a retirement and move to a beautiful home not far from
where we actually honeymooned.
In 45-years our love has grown, been tested, and shined even brighter with each new day. I am so glad that he was persistent on the night he proposed — I couldn’t imagine any other life.
I
love you, Mark, now and for eternity.
.
