Monday, July 1, 2013

35 and Counting!!

Ben and I are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary today.

That's 12,775 days of wedded bliss! 

Well, maybe all 12,775 of them weren't blissfully happy, but quite a lot of them were.  Here's a quick recap of our three plus decades together.


1978  We meet at Catholic University while pursuing degrees in library science, fall in love, get married, and buy a row house in historic Greenbelt, Maryland.

The only photograph taken on our two-day honeymoon in the  Shawangunk Mountains. 

1978-1985   We finish our MLS degrees while working full time at the Library of Congress.  Mary continues school, earns an MA in American Studies from University of Maryland, and is promoted to a supervisory position.  Ben takes computer classes and a variety of computer related jobs, eventually landing back at the Library of Congress as a computer specialist rather than a librarian.   Along the way we acquire our first dog, a Puli named Syzygy, and have a lot of fun with our nieces and nephews (children of Mary's brother, Jim, who also lives in Greenbelt).  On weekends, Ben rock climbs and Mary sings professionally in a church.

1985  We move to an old farm house in Glenn Dale, Maryland.  Mary's mother asks, "Why do you want live out here and in a house that needs so much work?"  The answer was that we fell in love with the screened porch.

Ben confers with our neighbor, Buddy, about the new deck Ben is building on our Glenn Dale house. 

1985-1995  Work and fun, including a three week trip in Germany and Austria on our bikes and many trips out West to visit friends in Colorado.  We add two more dogs to our "pack," along with several cats.  Our nieces and nephews move to Ohio; too sad.  Ben continues to rock climb; Mary quilts.

In Austria.

1995  We add the second story to our house. Yeah! We now have two baths and three bedrooms!

It's hard to believe that we lived in our house while it was being remodeled.
Here's Ben about to brush his teeth one morning in the middle of the chaos. 

2000  We decide we'd like to be parents after all and plan to adopt a girl from Russia.  Instead, by July we are the thrilled parents of a baby boy from Colorado who we name Paul.  We add air conditioning to our house; we wouldn't want the baby to be hot! The grandmothers chip in to treat us to a paved driveway; the baby is going to need a place to ride his bike!


We were in Colorado three weeks waiting for the adoption paperwork to clear.
 Two and a half weeks were very happy, but by the end we were itching to bring our baby home. 

2000-2006  The years are flying by too fast.  Mary takes early retirement so she can spend more time with Paul.  Six months later she picks up a dream job as the librarian at Paul's school.  A two minute commute; off by 4:00; lots of holidays and all summer off --what fun!  We redo the kitchen; we love it and don't try to fool ourselves that it's for the baby.  Mary's father  and Ben's stepfather both die.

Thanksgiving photo shoot, 2002

2006-2013  For some reason the years continue to fly by too fast.  We redo the entrance to the house and the wraparound porch.  We begin to travel with Paul, first to the Virgin Islands (we discover snorkeling!) and then to Europe.  In the space of six months Ben's mother dies and then Mary's mother dies.  As Ben's dreams of retirement come closer to reality, it's time to think harder about moving to Colorado.

Our first trip outside the country in over fifteen years.

2013-????  No one can tell the future, but we're both looking forward to the next phase of our life together. 

I love you, Ben!


4 comments:

  1. Hi Love -

    I don't remember day 12,773... which one was that ?

    With love,

    Ben

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary -

    I read this over again, and was struck by the tenderness and thoughtfulness. It's been a pretty good 12,000 and change days, eh ?

    Love,

    Ben

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Anniversary!!!!!! Loved the pictures!!!

    Narmeen

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great love story you tell...best wishes for many more days!

    ReplyDelete

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