34 Years Ago Today

Thirty-four years ago today Dw and I stood before about a hundred friends and family and promised to spend the rest of our lives together.

Little did we know the bumps, turns and unexpected events that the ensuing years would hold that bliss filled day many years ago.   But what a ride it’s been!

Friday night we went to dinner to celebrate.  We told the hostess as we were seated that it was our 34th anniversary celebration.  Surprisingly the manager of the restaurant came to our table to congratulate us.   He found us snuggled together on one side of the booth talking.  

It was clear that the manager {Chris} was there for more than a bit of PR.  He truly was astounded that someone would be married that long {to the same person!} and had to come and meet them.   He asked us questions and before long our story poured out.  He was such a sincere man, in absolutely no hurry.  {We did not see him speak to any other table the entire evening.}  He asked if he could treat us each to a dessert.  {Go ahead, twist our arms, as long as it’s chocolate.}  At one point, I said, “We really just have fun together” to which Chris responded, “I can see that.”

Chris then asked if there would be some way to get a hold of us, because he would like to have our whole family in for dinner.  {I has shown him pictures of them on my cell phone.} How sweet was that?  It solidified in our hearts how desperately the world is longing to see healthy committed marriages!

Of course, we’d be lying to say there haven’t been rough patches {every one has rough patches and if any one tells you other wise they are most definitely full of boloney or living in la-la-land}.

We’ve even gone for marriage counseling when we couldn’t see eye-to-eye on things.  Our counselor was an amazing, amazing, amazing Godly woman and I am so thankful for the influence she had on our marriage and our lives.   Marriage and parenting are both tricky to navigate at times and this precious woman helped us through some rather difficult seasons.  {Don’t ever be afraid to seek out a solid Biblical counselor to help you work through things.}

While back East Dw’s brother had found a photo of us from years gone by.   He left it out for us to take home.  We had long forgotten the event and that such a photo existed, until we saw it again.  Such a precious memory to relive.

It was taken by the little newspaper photographer one Sunday when we had first started dating – summer 1976.  {I know, I know, many of you were not even born yet!}

Dw’s home church {The Baptist Church of Perry, New York} used to have Old Fashioned Sunday, where they encouraged people to dress on that particular Sunday as in the olden days.  {Right up my alley, no doubt!}

We cannot remember where Dw got the coat with tails to wear, but think it was maybe Dw’s dad’s wedding jacket because he did wear white tails in their wedding back in 1937.  My dress was a dress I wore regularly to church, as in those days {mid-70’s} long dresses were “in” for church.

As you can see, Dw had very blonde hair once-upon-a-time {that blonde hair was the first thing that attracted me to him}.  I was 17 in the picture and he was 21.
The news reporter even put the photo in their paper the following week.

So on our 34th wedding anniversary –

Happy Anniversary Babe
You are my favorite person in the world.  
No one else even comes close.
34 years, 11 kids {so far} and we still got the heat  =)
I LOVE YOU Whitey

46 thoughts on “34 Years Ago Today

  1. Beautiful picture; what a special find! I so remember the "maxi" dresses and loved them. And, yes, I have now "dated" myself into the same era!

    1. I think sometimes people *could* think that we {and other Christians in the public eye} have it "all together". Although our 34 years have been overflowing with great joy and blessing, we have definitely had seasons of struggle, just like everyone else. Marriage and raising children is definitely NOT a fairy tale and it is most definitely NOT for cowards – the rewards of working thru each season have brought us such joy! We are so thankful and love this season of "mentoring' younger couples.

  2. Awesome and congratulations!

    It's crazy though how our world is. My husband and I have been married fourteen years and people act like it's an eternity. Why? Should Jesus tarry we hope to see 50!

  3. Happy Anniversary!! Love the pic! Maxi's are back! someone wore one to church just this morning! It was a little different but the long and flowing look just the same! Sheri

    1. I actually bought a sundress {love the clearance racks and gift cards from precious friends} for the rehearsal dinner and it's to the floor. So fun! Love to have them back…

  4. Happy Anniversary! Love your date story, I'm glad he gave you desert 🙂 Did you see that Uganda won gold in the Olympics marathon? It was their first medal of this year's games and their first gold since 1972! 🙂

    1. Haha. I read it as dessert and didn't even notice until you posted the correction. You made me giggle. Especially with your "I love dessert, I should know how to spell it." We loved watching Uganda win!! I kept started to cry….we were so thrilled and our kids {all races} were cheering!! Yippee Jesus!

  5. Congratulations on your anniversary. A love story indeed. I commend you both for working thru the thick and thin of life and marriage and loving so many children! Love the old photo…I remember dresses like that. My era! October makes 35 years for us….so we are close! Hugs and have a wonderful life together from this day on, with God in the midst of you! Love and hugs from hot Oregon! (nearly 100 degrees here). Quite the warm weekend. Thankful for shade along with sunshine, fun and good friends along the way! Can't be any better than that….:0>

    1. Congratulations on the upcoming 35th anniversary. He is faithful! Of course, I hope people don't think it's ALL been rough. It hasn't. It's mostly been wonderful, BUT it would be deceiving for everyone to think that our marriage is "perfect"…cause NO marriage is perfect. Right?

    1. I told someone the other day, "We are celebrating 34 years of marriage. Can you believe my parents let me get married when I was three?" They stared. Clearly, not getting my humor. Finally when I realized they weren't getting it, I said, "I'm kidding." Then they laughed.

  6. Happy anniversary!!! I love love love the picture!!! (And I was just a kid, but the little town I grew up in had its centennial that year, while the country was celebrating the bicentennial and I have pictures of me as a little girl in a very similar dress during our town dress up days).

    1. You know Justine, your comment jogged my memory. I think that it was connected with the 1976 celebration. They had had old-fashioned Sunday, before, but I don't remember hearing they ever had one again. So post a pic of you from then on FB for me to see, k? xo

  7. Congratulations on your beautiful 34 years together. It takes a lot of sticking together through thick and thin to get there. My husband and I recently celebrated 28 years together. When we were those 19 and 17 year old kids my family doubted that we could ever get to this point. We are however, still very happily married and parents of a precious daughter and two wonderful grandsons. We are a family that prays together and attends church together. Congratulations once again. May the spark continue to burn for many years to come.

    1. Congratulations on 28. No doubt, praying together and putting Christ at the center is the secret. He is faithful and the years together through the thick and thin is so rewarding. We are blessed sweet friend, aren't we?

  8. Oh Linny, that picture is beyond precious! I love everything about it… holding hands:) Happy Anniversary! What a great example to us younguns:):) married only 19 years! Praying for many more special, wonderful years together for you and DW! Much love!

    1. I thought the picture was just too fun not to post. I was so tickled to find it. And I remember thinking that day how much it felt like "little house' days and that tickled my heart.

  9. Happy Anniversary to a wonderfully precious couple. What a sweet testimony your relationship is to so many!! Thanks for sharing such a fun picture

  10. Happy Anniversary Linny!!! Congratulations on staying strong and working things out. I thank you both for being such good examples of marriage.

    On a different note, at my parent's former church they also had Old Fashioned Sundays. I have pictures of them dressed like Little House on the Prairie. I wonder if that was just a trend for that time period? I am curious why churches never do that anymore. Or maybe it is just something smaller churches do… It looks fun!

  11. Congratulations DW and Linny,
    i am so happy for you and your kids that God has brought you so far! It truly is a day to celebrate! Many blessings for the years to come.
    You are a true inspiration! Next month we celebrate 16 years…;) i truly hope we will have small kids around when we will be married for 34 yrs (Lord willing)

    Love Adriana

    1. My sweet friend,
      I pray that when you celebrate 34 years God gives you the desires of your heart and you have little ones in your home. We LOVE that we have little ones…and pray that God continues to fill our home. Actually over the week-end Dw said, "We should have bought a hotel." haha. By the way, I was thinking of you the other day but didn't know how to get ahold of you…can you email me, I need to ask you something. APlaceCalledSimplicity@yahoo.com

  12. THank you both for being such an example to Justin and I. We love you both. You are SO right when you say the world hungers to see what a healthy marriage looks like. We have been talking about this a lot lately. Friendship is so important and that seems to be lost with out "ball and chain" view of marriage.

  13. Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary! You are an inspiration not only to me but to my marriage of 1 year 😀 I can't believe how much Graham looks like DW in the picture 🙂 I wish you all the happiness in the world.

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