{"id":6070,"date":"2013-02-17T00:11:13","date_gmt":"2013-02-17T08:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=6070"},"modified":"2013-02-17T00:11:13","modified_gmt":"2013-02-17T08:11:13","slug":"those-three-little-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/02\/17\/those-three-little-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Those Three Little Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1966, the first year of our marriage, already back from Georgia, in Hermosa Beach, California. Click for larger view.<\/span><\/h6>\n

It’s Sunday, and I usually post these on Monday, but this is different: It’s our anniversary.<\/p>\n

I’ll never forget those three little words Anne said when I suggested we get married: “I guess so.”<\/p>\n

We’d met years earlier. I was flipping hamburgers at a drug store fountain and she was friends with the dishwasher. We went out a few times. Then she went off to college and I went hitchhiking across America and Mexico . . . just because. There’s more to the story, but I try to keep these posts brief.<\/p>\n

Later I was back in school, though with no particular direction. Through a series of driving incidents (too much sport, like I was a cowboy and my cars were bucking\u00a0broncos) my license was revoked. Anne’s father owned a car dealership, and she had a car. Again, there was more to it than that, but it helped.<\/p>\n

After that we remained close. Then I got a job offer that would take me across the country. It was to start in two weeks and I had to make a decision. That’s when I brought up the idea about marriage.<\/p>\n

Her “I guess so” was enough; we started making plans. There would be no time to marry in the week before leaving so we’d tell our parents our plans to get married after moving to Georgia. You can imagine how that idea hit with them.<\/p>\n

(I used to tell our children, “Please don’t do this to us.”)<\/p>\n

My parents hardly knew Anne though could see quality. My mother, however, wanted us to marry “here,” in California. “There’s no time,” I said, “we’re flying on Friday.”<\/p>\n

“You can get married on Thursday,” she said, always practical.<\/p>\n

“Not in a church,” I protested. But she’d hear none of that. The fact that I’d long since broken out of that pasture didn’t mean the marriage of her first son (of five children) wouldn’t be there. She said she’d organize the whole thing; all we had to do was show up. She’d even iron a shirt for me. I figured it was the best offer we could ask for and agreed.<\/p>\n

Upbeat, we went off to tell Anne’s parents.<\/p>\n

They weren’t as elated.<\/p>\n

Where had I come from, who was I, how much money did I have?<\/p>\n

Happily I could answer that one. I had $800. It was the first time I could have said that. I don’t remember them being very impressed.<\/p>\n

But they blessed us the best they could, hosting the reception at their house. I remember meeting friends of Anne’s family that evening. They’d known Anne growing up and gushed over her qualities as a person, something I heartily agreed with. Later I learned they’d been going up to her and saying, “Well, good luck.”<\/p>\n

We left the next day for Georgia, a new location, a new job, new friends, our new life together and, for me, a new driver’s license.<\/p>\n

That was 47 years ago today.<\/p>\n

It was a house built on sand and it may well have collapsed had not the Master Builder entered in, some five years later, and shored up foundations. But like I said, I try to keep these brief.<\/p>\n

We’re still enjoying each other’s company, still making trips hither and yon, our five children happily all well established (also hither and yon) as are the 15 grandchildren. Our wealth is our family, and our friends.<\/p>\n

As for the money, there’s never been a lot, but always enough. Eight-hundred dollars can go a long way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

________________
\nPS For last year’s anniversary post, reviewing the years, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s another anniversary, and sometime, even with the most unlikely beginnings, with grace, and God, a marriage can prosper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6070"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6107,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6070\/revisions\/6107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}