Anniversary

On Friday, Nov. 7, eleven years ago, Larry and I went to the Campbell County courthouse and got married. The past eleven years have been the best of my life.

Larry and I had planned on a small church wedding. But the arrangements began to seem complicated, and we started thinking more about what we really wanted: to be married.

A few months before our planned wedding in January 2004, I moved my furniture and most of my things into Larry’s house. But Waddles and I still lived in Rustburg.

One day, while I was over at Larry’s house, he asked, “Would you ever want to elope?”

I was surprised, but we talked about it and decided that the best course to take was to get married at the courthouse by the judge so our close family could be there.

Six weeks later, we got married.

That morning, after I got dressed and ready to go, my brothers and mother and I gathered to drive to the courthouse. One of my brothers was a volunteer EMT at the time, and he had brought one of the ambulances to Rustburg to pick up some things for a fundraiser.

He suggested ferrying me up to the courthouse in the emergency vehicle. He didn’t run the lights, though—that was against the code.

So Larry, standing outside the courthouse with his parents and daughter, saw me arrive in an ambulance. Unfortunately, we didn’t get pictures of that.

We went up to the third floor to the circuit court, and Judge Samuel Johnston performed the wedding.

He said he was glad to have a happy task to do since he had presided over a testy divorce earlier that week.

Years later, the now-retired Judge Johnston wrote a book, and I interviewed him about it for the newspaper. I told him that he had married my husband and me.

“Did it stick?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, it stuck,” I said.

Happy Anniversary, dear Larry!