This last week, our granddaughter and her husband celebrated their fifth anniversary. There’s something about the fives that make them seem like a milestone. It launched my thinking about th past.
Katelyn and Sean and my parents both cite similar beginnings to their relationships. The young Edith was driving her black, 1929 Dodge sedan along an unpaved rural, road when she was aggravated by a flat tire. The young Alex, riding his horse, came along, stopped and changed it for her.
Katelyn was parked in a concrete lot when she discovered a flat tire on her white, 2004 Jeep Liberty SUV. Sean saw her predicament and changed it for her. Although the two vehicles were manufactured 75 years apart, they continued to have one thing in common–each was equipped with a spare tire in case of emergency.
There are many differences between farm kids from the 1930s and suburban, college students from the 2000s. Yet, the two young men had the same innate desire to aid a “damsel in distress” and the same urge to continue pursuit of the young woman.
During the Great Depression, my parents were married on a February, Thursday afternoon in a private ceremony conducted in the church parsonage. In the evening, after the cows were milked, friends and relatives gathered in an area town hall for a traditional wedding dance to celebrate with the newly-weds.
Our granddaughter’s wedding was held on a September, Saturday afternoon, in an outdoor facility and witnessed by several hundred guests. Afterwards, the group moved inside for a meal and dancing.
Although people change with the times, the attraction between a man and a woman that becomes a lifetime of true love continues to flow from generation to generation. My parents’ marriage lasted 41 years, ’til death do us part.
How did you first encounter your spouse?