Two will be as One February 18,2021

Yesterday was our anniversary . Many couples have stories of their weeding day but how many couples fly to Las Vegas to have the nuptials performed?

The story begins with John and myself finding we were pregnant at age 36. All my friends at that age were taking fertility drugs to induce pregnancy. I thought , wrongly, that it must be hard to conceive at my age.We decided to marry and asked our parents if they would like to be there. My mother, who was not happy with us, stated,”We are going to Florida, just be married before we get back!” John’s mom decided that the trip would not be needed. I was disappointed and told John he could make the wedding arrangements . My only request that we have a minister rather than a justice of the peace.

We flew out to. Las Vegas on Sunday after Valentine’s Day. My brother , Brian, was flying to California for business. He detoured his destination to witness the wedding and fly out the next morning.

My soon to be husband booked a chapel named, ”Graceland” It was a small white building resembling a church. True to his word, we did have a black Pentecostal minister. After pulling him away from watching Magic Johnson playing a basket ball game, he gave us an old fashion service. To this day, my husband reminds that my vows were to, ”love, honor and obey” while his were to”love, honor and cherish”. He can get my liberal up by reminding me of my vows.

The small space was intimate . One of the biblical readings was from the book of Ruth. I elbowed John. He gave me a warning look. We had decided to name our daughter Ruth. I thought that the picking of that book was funny since she was there with us.

My brother was our witness and photographer. Good thing we had min with us, otherwise we would have had to pay extra for the services. With the paperwork completed ,a tip for the minister and a flat no to the plethora folder for the marriage license we were back in our room by midnight.

I couldn’t sleep so we both got up and went to explore the casino at 2 am. Though no one was playing the slots, the machines continued to ring bells and make noise as if people were hitting jackpots.

We wandered out to the Strip to walk and watch the sunrise. We found our rental car and took Brian to the airport to catch his flight to California.

The next day we drove to Death Valley for our Honeymoon .

Now we have been married for 29 years. We still cuddle, talk and love each other more than when we took those vows.

On the 16th, John took me to a neighborhood Italian restaurant. I had shrimp scampi and John had a house specialty sub. A Brazilian friend Joao, had told of special desserts that his chef friend served in his Italian eatery in Italy. The Struffoli, le Frappe, la Cicerchiata, le Castagnole were temping ,but John said that he would look up a recipe and make them for us soon.

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one man

one woman

two minds

join together

to make one heart.

Carol Farnsworth

carolaspot@aol.com. copyright 2/18/21