Wednesday, November 5, 2014

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! 

17 comments:

  1. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the both of you :-)...xxoo

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  2. Happy Anniversary Larry and Tina. Many many more years of happiness. I love the way it started. HUG B

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  3. Happy anniversary! We had a simple wedding too - so nice, low stress :-)

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  4. happy anniversary....what a beautiful picture!! i'll bet your glad it "stuck"!!!!

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  5. You made a beautiful bride! Happy Anniversary, Tina :-)

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  6. That's a wonderful story, Tina -- what a great memory! Happy Anniversary!

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  7. Happy Anniversary! That's a great story and beginning to your married life.

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  8. that's awesome. congratulations! the ambulance was a unique taxi! :)

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  9. Aw, you both look amazing.......Happy Anniversary!

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  10. What joy! Happy anniversary. :-)

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  11. Happy Anniversary! That's a cute photo. :)

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  12. Happy anniversary and many more! Congrats.

    I have two kids getting married next year. Both are stressing over the preparations...I really like your approach.

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  13. This post made me smile. Happy anniversary to you both :) Have a great weekend!!

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  14. Happy anniversary, lovebirds! :D

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  15. What a sweet wedding photo. Happy but belated Anniversary. It's always wonderful to have that special someone to share your life with.

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  16. Happy Anniversary! My husband and I celebrated our 30th recently and I feel very fortunate. Also, thank you for visiting my new blog as suggested by our mutual friend Buttons!

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  17. Great story, Tina. I'll venture that a lot of people would have made this choice if they had it to do over again. Weddings today have become so complex and more expensive than is wise.

    Many more happy years to you and Larry!

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