My dad, home from Vietnam for one day, met my mother in a bar.
“He was wearing a suit, that’s what I first noticed,” she explained as I asked question after question about their courtship.
“You fell hard and fast, huh Mom?” my brother asked as my Mom smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
“This was even before I bought the Corvette,” my dad adds.
Shocked, I asked, “Even before you bought her a ring!?”
My Mom and Dad met in April and married seven months later on November 28, 1969. As my brother and I quiz them, wanting to know every detail of how their love came to be, I notice that they look at each other when answering the questions and finish each other’s sentences.
My parents recalled their first date, forgetting most of the details except that at some point they went to Dairy Queen. Most of the questions we ask, their answers are fuzzy. They do remember that there wasn’t an official get-down-on-your-knee proposal.
My mom did recall one funny detail, “Your Aunt Jeanie heard that we were going to go pick out a ring and showed up at my parent’s house wanting to see the ring.” The whole idea of marriage apparently was a surprise to my grandmother.
“When I got home Mother said, ‘well, show me the ring.’ My dad was on a business trip, I think. He called and Mother handed me the phone and said, ‘here, you tell him.”
“Well, what did your parents think, Dad?” my brother and I pressed for the details.
“I don’t think they’d met her yet,” my dad explained.
“You know, don’t you,” I asserted, “that this was completely crazy, right?”
And it was crazy. Meeting in April, marrying just a few months later, both of them so young, not even really knowing one another’s families. But crazy became 40 years, 2 children, and a mostly great life together.
Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. Here’s to 40 years, and to many, many more.
Heather-Domestic Extraordinaire
November 28, 2009 at 11:12 am
What a beautiful story.
Happy Anniversary to your parents and many, many more!
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Scary Mommy
November 28, 2009 at 12:12 pm
That’s so romantic! Happy Anniversary to your parents!
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Michelle
November 28, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Aww…what a great love story!
Happy Anniversary to your mom and dad!
paula
November 28, 2009 at 5:12 pm
happy anniversary to your parents!! my husband & I dated for about 3 months before getting engaged then married the following yr granted we are only going on 14 years but hope to catch up to your folks one day
Tiffany
November 28, 2009 at 5:18 pm
What a great post – It is so wonderful to read about parents who have been married for that long – my parents are about to celebrate 38 years… Crazy!
Oh, I found your blog through OhMommy – Love what I have read so far!
mom, again
November 29, 2009 at 1:34 am
We met in February & married in November (18 years yesterday), it’s worked out fine so far! Happy anniversary to your parents!
Kelley
November 30, 2009 at 1:37 am
DUDE!
My parents met in 1969 and were married 6 months later!
I am wondering what the deal is with that year…
mapsgirl
November 30, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I think we have something to learn. Your post is awesome and the comment from people with similar stories is amazing.
I too can post of an amazing love. My parents met in November 1972, were engaged at Christmas and married by July 1973. 36 years!
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Deb
November 30, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Don’t hear too many love stories like that anymore. Thanks so much for sharing, and happy anniversary to your parents!
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Karen Hartzell, Graco
November 30, 2009 at 11:31 pm
so sweet. I love to hear stories like that. Many happy more years to them!
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Out of the goodness of my heart | Playgroups are No Place For Children
December 1, 2009 at 1:42 pm
[...] I felt a little bit like a gift-giving genius when I found this personalized sign on Etsy, for their 40th anniversary. Isn’t it cute? I think my parents even liked it. And it wasn’t yet another gift [...]
Stassja
December 19, 2009 at 2:50 am
So sweet! Congratulations to them!
My parents had a similar story, they were engaged within 2 weeks of meeting (on their first date my mom proposed to my dad as they sat in his car on Daytona Beach, she was sorta joking but as they left my dad stopped at a payphone and called his mom to tell her lol) and 6 months later they were married. She didn’t get her ring till they’d been married a few years, I think. They’ll be celebrating 25 years just after christmas!
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