The Big Five-OH!

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                  Yesterday I celebrated fifty years of marriage.  

By myself, because I had to do it in two laps....29 years with Ross Nichols and 21 years with Louis Bateman.

Clearly, this wasn't an anniversary celebration.  Just a personal celebration that I finally have been married for fifty years.  Many, many of my friends passed that milestone years ago--with the same husband.  I hoped that someday I would be the person who could say that, even though it wouldn't be with the same husband.

I fully expected my first marriage to last 50 plus years.  I used to joke that we went to our wedding in Ross' brand new 1968 Mustang Fastback with the Boss 302 engine, and we would go to our 50th anniversary wedding celebration in the same car--even if we had to put it up on blocks in the back yard until that big event rolled around!

Well, Ross sold the Mustang after 19.5 years.  Said he got his money's worth and change.  Then ten years later he sold himself to another woman.  Obviously, I had to discard that notion of a 50th hoopla with him.

When I married Louis, twenty-one years sounded like a long time before I would make it to that coveted occasion of fifty years marriage for me.  As it turned out, the time nearly flew by.  But I don't think Louis and I are going to make it to a 50th anniversary either.  I would be 106 years old!  Nope.  Not going to hang around THAT long just to say, "I did it!" with the same guy.  

However, to mark this 50-year event for me, I invited my favorite next-door neighbor and friend Cathy from my Arvada period to have lunch with me, as she knew our family during the first 29 years, and during the subsequent 21 years, as well.  It was easy to talk about old times and funny anecdotes because she knew the experiences I reminisced about.  Sometimes, I think it just nice to know there's someone out there who knows my history, that I didn't just begin life when I got married the second time and moved to Northern Colorado.

So, here's to fifty years that were chock full of fun, the not so fun, pain, sorrow, joy, satisfaction, happiness, companionship, and everything in between, especially love.  It was worth every minute I invested in that two-lap accomplishment.  

Now I'm cheering for myself.  

"Hip, hip, hooray! I did it!"