54 Years Ago

So, 54 years ago, I awoke in our New City Park house on Collier Avenue, 20 miles from Manhattan, ready for a new adventure. The day began warm and continued warming throughout the day, til it burst forth into the 100 degree range, just when we were getting married. The church was small, seating a couple of hundred at most. A few family attended. Bill was the best man. The Schmidt's came from the Bronx, Gordon and Louise arrived from White Plains. Uncle Bill arrived from outer space. Everyone else was "from the bride's side".


After the ceremony, people gathered at the Foreman's in Nanuet. Poppy had set up their driveway as a reception area, with his garage/workshop as the bar. Everyone stood outside, sweating in the sultry heat of a summer's day. People laughed anyway. We posed for pictures, we cut the cake and posed some more.


Then we changed our clothes and were driven to New York City. We were staying at the LaGuardia motel, at the edge of the airport. We were dropped off and then we were alone, as a real married couple for the first time. We quickly caught a cab and traveled into Manhattan, where we dined at a nice restaurant, also for the first time as a couple. I had shrimp cocktail and shrimp creole. We laughed about that many times afterwards.


The next day, a Sunday, we wandered around New York, saw a movie, The Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe (we also laughed about that over the years). We inhaled the city--it would be a while before we could return. Then we returned to the airport. Our plane, a World Airlines (no, not TWA) four engine Constellation, sat on the tarmac. Nana and Poppy arrived before our flight left . . . at midnight. We took off, on a very long flight to San Francisco (14 hours). Ruth and Niels plucked us from the airport and we began life as a married couple. Fifty Four years ago.
The years have melted away, each one filled with memories, mostly happy. We are looking forward to our next fifty four years of adventure. Life is good.