The Adventure Begins!

Thirty-nine years ago today at three o'clock in the afternoon, LBeau and I were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Camden, Arkansas.  It was also a Sunday.

Looking back, it's hard to believe my parents didn't put up a fuss about a wedding two days after Christmas.  But we chose the date very carefully.  I was teaching school in the Dallas suburb of Richardson at the time, and LBeau had just finished a master's degree at SMU.  I would be going back to work in a week, so the timing just seemed right.

Weddings were also simpler affairs in those days.  In fact, it was the custom not to send invitations to people in our small town.  An engagement announcement ran in the local paper, and people just assumed that if they knew you they were invited.

Since I was living in Dallas, I pretty much left it to my mother to plan the whole thing.  There was only one photographer in town, one lady who made wedding cakes, and a couple of florists.  Pretty easy compared to the decisions today's brides have to make.

Following the ceremony, we held the reception in the church fellowship hall.  We served wedding cake, mints, nuts and punch.  The whole thing, including the ceremony, probably lasted less than two hours.

Then LBeau and I were off for our honeymoon in Hot Springs.  We had planned to spend one night before heading back to Dallas for LBeau to attend a job fair.  We ended up skipping the job fair and staying two nights.

Returning to Dallas, we moved into an apartment near J. J. Pearce High School where I taught journalism and English.  In February, we loaded everything we owned into the smallest U-Haul trailer we could rent and moved to St. Louis for LBeau to take a job with Missouri-Pacific Railroad.

So that was the beginning of our great adventure.  Looking back at our first date (you can read about it HERE), I'd say it's amazing that I went out with him a second time.  But I've never been sorry I did, and I can't wait for the next 39 years.