Our 24th Anniversary

Me and Hon on our wedding day.

    Awwww, come on now...I'm not going to get too mushy on you over this.  Read on and enjoy!
    This day 24 years ago Hon and I got married...hitched...tied the knot.  Call it what you want, we did it and it was the best decision we've ever made together.  We were married at the First Congregational Church in Rochester, Michigan, which is the church I attended when I was growing up, almost 1 1/2 years after we started dating.  Ahhhhh, young love!  Ahem, ok, enough of that.  Even thought it was Michigan, we were having a drought and heatwave, sort of like now come to think of it.  I'll never forget the day.  It was 107 degrees out.  Oh, and the church didn't have air conditioning.  They made sure to have it the next summer though.  There were two big fans at the front of the church blowing on the minister to keep him cool, if there was such a thing in that heat.  This was back when videos of weddings weren't quite as popular, but we did have a voice recording of the event.  Of course with those fans going there was just a rrrrrrrrrrr sound, but we were there so it really wasn't a big deal.  I still have no idea what happened to that tape of the event anyway.  
    The wedding was beautiful!  Afterwards we had our reception in the heat of the backyard under a tent with our friends and relatives.  There was enough food for everyone.  Wait a minute, what happened to all the food?  We couldn't find it.  There was some, but not nearly enough.  It was a mystery!  Even so, we all had a bit to eat, pictures were taken, and everyone really seemed to have a great time.  I'll never forget the beautiful wedding cake Grandma Shirk made for us.  It was white, but the heat turned it more a creamy yellow, and it was absolutely delicious!  Grandma was an awesome cake decorator!  
    After the festivities were over Hon and I got in his little Chevy Spectrum and we were off on our honeymoon, which was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at a cabin we rented on Thousand Island Lake.  Boy was that a drive to get there!  A little tidbit of information for those who are planning a wedding...make reservations for your wedding night.  You might find that every stinking hotel, motel, and inn you stop at is booked solid...except for that last ditch effort of a reeeeal expensive hotel, which happened to have one dirty room left.  The bonus was when we got to our cabin it was cool and drought free.  I heard that when we left the reception folks that were still there went for a swim in the pool.  Oh, and the missing food was found so there were leftovers...lots of leftovers for quite some time.  
    Anyway, the wedding really was beautiful.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  It wasn't my day, like some folks think it is for the bride, it was our day.  It was the start of a wonderful marriage that's gone strong for 24 years now and I'm absolutely positive we have many many more years ahead of us.  Maybe on occasion I'll tell you some stories about things we've done in these past 24 years.  Every once in a while I think back on things and WHAM! there's something that pops up I hadn't thought about in years.  Like every other couple we've had our ups and downs.  We've found that when we are in the downs that's the best time to reflect on all the ups, to remember all the good times we've had and how we've made it through our struggles...together.  My Hon is my soul mate and without him I wouldn't be who I am today.  Okay, so that part was real mushy.  Smiling & Waving, Sharon 
    

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