My wife and I celebrated 25 years of marriage Wednesday. My wife grew up with my brother-in-law as they were next door neighbors in Detroit Michigan. Way back in 1986, I moved to Detroit to work with an architecture firm there. I was living with my sister and brother in law there in Michigan and they were more than ready to get rid of me! They introduced me to Maria at a Christmas party they hosted. That was December, 1986. We went out about 5 times but I had already decided to leave the firm in Detroit and move back to Virginia. On our last night together there in Detroit, we bought a ring at a department store and we proposed to each other right there in the mall (I don’t even remember which mall now that I think about it).
I returned to Virginia and she stayed back in Detroit and planned a wedding for a guy no one knew or had ever even seen her with! I flew back to meet her folks about a month or so later, then we married in Detroit on August 1, 1987. We had been on 5 dates and had known each other just over 9 months and we were actually together less than 3 months!
It’s very funny now, 25 years later. If we had taken bets with people who said it wouldn’t last a year we would be rich! But 3 houses, 8 cars, 4 motorcycles, & 3 dogs later, we are still kicking. What's even funnier is that we found out about a year or two into our marriage that we have absolutely nothing in common. I love movies, she hates them. I love sports, she hates them. She loves the tourist vacations, I hate that. I love anything that floats; she gets sea sick if a minnow farts. She is a high school physics teacher and I love physics, but she hates to debate things and you guys already know I will debate anything ad nauseam. And most of all she really hates motorcycles in general and Hayabusas in particular!
What’s the secret to a long and happy marriage? Damned if I know. I would say that neither of us was looking for the other to make us happy. We live remarkably independent lives yet we are as together as any couple. I suppose if we had had kids if would have been difficult. My dad was a drill Sargent in the Air Force and I believe strongly in authority and discipline. Her father was a lawyer (in the army for some time) and her mother a teacher. It’s a good bet that would have been a real source of conflict. I guess I’m saying you never know what will work. Getting married is not something that you do with the brain, you do it with the heart. That doesn’t mean it will last, but it always defies logic.
So I bring all this up to say congratulations to Tim (Earlybird) and Karen, who I think are getting married sometime this month. Karen is a great girl and Tim is average
(He definitely got the best of that deal). Wishing you guys as many years of happiness.
I returned to Virginia and she stayed back in Detroit and planned a wedding for a guy no one knew or had ever even seen her with! I flew back to meet her folks about a month or so later, then we married in Detroit on August 1, 1987. We had been on 5 dates and had known each other just over 9 months and we were actually together less than 3 months!
It’s very funny now, 25 years later. If we had taken bets with people who said it wouldn’t last a year we would be rich! But 3 houses, 8 cars, 4 motorcycles, & 3 dogs later, we are still kicking. What's even funnier is that we found out about a year or two into our marriage that we have absolutely nothing in common. I love movies, she hates them. I love sports, she hates them. She loves the tourist vacations, I hate that. I love anything that floats; she gets sea sick if a minnow farts. She is a high school physics teacher and I love physics, but she hates to debate things and you guys already know I will debate anything ad nauseam. And most of all she really hates motorcycles in general and Hayabusas in particular!
What’s the secret to a long and happy marriage? Damned if I know. I would say that neither of us was looking for the other to make us happy. We live remarkably independent lives yet we are as together as any couple. I suppose if we had had kids if would have been difficult. My dad was a drill Sargent in the Air Force and I believe strongly in authority and discipline. Her father was a lawyer (in the army for some time) and her mother a teacher. It’s a good bet that would have been a real source of conflict. I guess I’m saying you never know what will work. Getting married is not something that you do with the brain, you do it with the heart. That doesn’t mean it will last, but it always defies logic.
So I bring all this up to say congratulations to Tim (Earlybird) and Karen, who I think are getting married sometime this month. Karen is a great girl and Tim is average
(He definitely got the best of that deal). Wishing you guys as many years of happiness.
