How Mom and Dad met and married... for their 45th anniversary today

Today would have been my parents 45th wedding anniversary. So to celebrate I am going to tell the story of how they met and married. It is a story my mother told often. And I've told it often. It's rather ridiculous... and it colored my expectations for many years. I no longer think I'll have anything like it. It was just for them. :)

A little back story: My mother was married at age 18. She had been married for 7 years before she left. I believe it was a bad marriage. She almost never spoke of it. They had no children. Dad had been married before. He had custody of his 6 children (ages 5-12ish I think) and was in the U.S. Air Force. They had both decided without a doubt they would never marry again.

Mom and Dad in the late 60s I think

Dad was stationed in Sumter, SC. He worked with my mom's brother (Uncle Woody) who was also in the Air Force. My mother was visiting her brother and his wife (Aunt Evelyn). They got a call from my Dad who had apparently wrecked his station wagon with his 6 kids in tow and could use a ride. So Mom, Woody, and Evelyn go to help him out. Mom said that they were all sitting in a room talking. She hadn't spent any time alone with Dad. But on the ride back to my uncle's house my Mom told Evelyn "I'm going to marry that man" very matter of factly. Evelyn just laughed at her.

So they are back at my uncle's house. Mom is looking out the window. Evelyn asks what she's doing and Mom says "Oh, I'm waiting for Ben (my Dad)." As Mom told me she and dad had not discussed that he would be coming by or anything. And shortly after she said that he comes driving up. He asks if she would like for him to show her around the town. So they go out. She never really told me what they did. She did say there wasn't much to the town, but they had a nice time.

In the mid 80s... I think at my b-day in Busch Gardens

A couple days later, on the weekend Mom, Woody, and Evelyn head up to Morehead City in North Carolina for the week. Mom gets a call from Dad and he asks if it's okay if they drive up to see her because he has something to ask her. She says sure... and as she told the story "I knew what he was going to ask me."

So she said they were sitting on the beach while his kids played in the sand and water. Dad pulls out his bank book and says something like "This is how much I owe (which Mom said was a lot), this is what I have, and will you marry me?" She said yes.

In Florida in early 2000s I think

Then after about 5 months when Mom's divorce was finalized (she hadn't bothered to start the process... you know because she wasn't going to marry again) she and Dad went to the courthouse to get their marriage license. The guy at the courthouse said "If you want I can marry you now." They figured what the heck. The bride wore a black pant suit with a blue shirt. Then they went out and bought furniture. Apparently the 6 kids were upset they had gotten married without them.

Last picture together, August 2011

So that, my friends, is the ridiculously true tale of Ben and Cathy. They did not repeat the mistakes of their first marriage. In my 39 years of knowing them together they did not fight. I never heard a voice raised in my home. And my Dad made my Mom laugh all the time... which is why I suspect she married him. This is not to say their marriage was easy. I know it was tough sometimes... all relationships are... but I was the most fortunate kid in the world when it came to the parent lottery... at least in my opinion.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I love you.