“Sometimes someone comes into your life, so unexpectedly, takes your heart by surprise, and changes your life forever.” -Anonymous
My husband and I celebrated an anniversary yesterday. We have been together now almost our whole lives. When we met at a high school football game years and years ago, I was fourteen and he was eighteen. I was a freshman. He was a senior. At different schools. I wasn’t expecting to meet him or anyone that night. I was with a girlfriend who was meeting a guy after the game. I planned to walk to my sister’s house after the game.
Fate intervened. The guy brought my girlfriend’s cousin with him when he came to pick her up. Since I was still with her at the time and the new guy was part of my friend’s family, I caught a ride to my sister’s house. I was very young. Too young really, but sometimes things seem to be meant to be. We had an instant attraction for one another. Three years later we were married. Too young really again, but we had love and shared a belief in the Lord. From the very first week, we went to church together.
We struggled through some lean years financially, but we had each other and before we got to our third anniversary, we had two babies. What a treasure those little ones were. We waited a few years before we added that final sweet bundle of joy.
That’s the story of our beginning. This week we took a journey back memory lane to Cumberland Falls where we went on a very short honeymoon. It was cold. Rain turned to ice on the night we married. But we went on to the Falls anyway. I had my little camera with me. I took a picture of Darrell and he took a picture of me. I obviously did a lot better job of holding the camera steady – important in those days.
We ate at the lodge that day on our honeymoon and when we sat down and looked at the menu, we were in trouble. We didn’t have enough money for most of the menu items. While it seemed everyone around us was dressed to the nines and eating fancy dinner entres, we were two kids needing to look for the cheaper fare. We ordered hamburgers, the cheapest things on the menu. I’m sure the waitress knew she was in trouble when it came time for her to get her tip. I don’t remember that part. I just remember feeling as though we didn’t fit in that fancy restaurant.
We ate at the lodge restaurant again today. It was early afternoon, so a lunch menu. I guess that was right up our alley. Darrell was already planning to order a hamburger just like he had all those years ago. We had eaten a late breakfast and weren’t really hungry but we wanted to relive that night so long ago. We didn’t have any trouble fitting in today since only two other guys in casual attire were in the restaurant eating. Darrell got his hamburger. I didn’t play along and got chicken which would fare better in a take home box. We reminisced and naturally didn’t agree on some of the memories. We had already walked to the lake where we were going to try to recreate the photos.
Of course, I remembered the pictures one way. Darrell remembered them another. Turned out he was closer to right than I was. I checked the old pictures when we got home. But so much had changed. Lots more walkways and barriers to keep a person from getting too close to the edge. Looks as though in the picture I took way back when, there is only a cable to keep a person back. The picture of me is so fuzzy it’s hard to see but looks as though I’m sitting on a rock watching the falls thunder past below.
I got better pictures today, but they don’t recreate those old pictures. Not sure that would have been possible even if we had remembered them exactly. But we did create some new memories.
Have you ever walked down memory road with a spouse, family member, or friend and found that you don’t remember things anything alike or at least not exactly the same?
I guess I’m going to have to tell Darrell that he was remembering right and I wasn’t. And I was so sure! Sigh. LOL.
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Comments 43
Congratulations on your anniversary! Interesting to hear more of your history!
Author
Thank you, Mary. I’m glad you came along on my memory trip her on my blog post.
Congratulations on your anniversary!
Happy Anniversary! I Love that you both love Our Jesus.
Author
A family that believes together and goes to church together has a head start in a happy marriage, Pamela.
I’m sure there has been some of those times with family members but I just can’t recall them at the moment. It was so nice you and your husband got to relive those memories. I hope you both had a great time.
Author
If you are going to forget something, Connie, it’s good to remember any of those possible disagreements over memories. We did have a good time in spite of rain trying to pour down on us. But what’s a little rain when you’re walking down memory lane? The night we married the rain turned to ice. So, at least we didn’t have to relive that memory!
Yes, I have! I remembered something about one of my cousins that my Mom had totally forgotten about! I’ve learned it happens a lot, that people remember things differently.
Author
People do remember things in different ways, Trudy, and as you mention, different things stick in our memories. I remember a song from some time ago sung by a man and woman and I have no idea who where they talk about a date where one says this or that one wore blue and the other says they wore pink or whatever and then the words of the song are “Yes, I remember it well.” I can’t quite remember enough of the song to look it up, but it seems to fit.
We took were very young , we didn’t go anywhere on her honeymoon and I barely knew how to open a. An of sloppy joes. 🙂 Simpler times . Happy Recreation and Anniversary to you both
Author
I could cook a little, Sherry, just from helping Mom. Besides I guess I was so young I thought I could do everything. We probably couldn’t afford those cans of Sloppy Joes. LOL. Thanks for your kind wishes.
Lovely reminisces! I! always wondered how you met because I knew you were at Anderson and Darrell was a Western guy! Looks like it worked out just fine!
Author
Darrell did say his classmates gave him a hard time for wanting to date “the enemy” from Anderson, Novajean. None of my classmates cared at all. Maybe because the guys in my class didn’t have ideas about dating me where maybe Darrell’s did have hopes of that??
It has worked out fine for sure.
I like reading your posts. I get excited when I see them in my email.
Author
That just may be one of the nicest comments I’ve ever read here on my blog, Una. Thank you for those words that are such an encouragement to me as I think about writing more words.
SWEETEST post ever!!!!! Happy Anniversary! Enjoy every minute!
Author
How nice of you to say, Susan. I’m glad y ou enjoyed reading our “how we met” story and then about our anniversary.
I loved reading your story; it is sweet and loving. Congratulations on your anniversary! Yes my sister and I have talked about things in our childhood and we certainly did not see them the same.
Please enter me in your giveaway. As usual thanks for sharing Ann!
Author
Darrell and his brother are always have different memories of the same events when they start talking about their childhood years, Pamela. Darrell, of course, thinks he’s right and his brother, of course, is just as sure he is right. They are both so sure that they have to agree to disagree. LOL. I’m always surprised when my sisters remember something that I don’t remember at all and then the same happens with some of the things I remember. Problem is, with me, is that I make so much up while writing my books that who knows if I’m remembering something real or not. 🙂
Old memories, new memories! All are precious treasures. The details aren’t so important as the people and the feelings they evoke. Thank you for sharing your anniversary story, Ann.
Author
Memories can be precious, Karen, and good to pull up to help one remember the good things. It’s good to make those new memories too. Thank you for reading my story.
Happy Anniversary! Such fun reliving memories. Beautiful photos. I’m glad you had a good time before the winter weather hit. Cumberland Falls is so beautiful!
My oldest son met his wife when they were both freshmen In high school. They just celebrated their 28th anniversary.
Author
It did rain on us before we got away from the Falls, but we didn’t get very wet, Lavon.
Sometimes a boy and a girl find the right match early. My granddaughter is getting married next year to a boy she’s known since they were kids. They live right across the street from one another, but they are a perfect match.
What a beautiful story. It’s great that you could go back and recreate those photos.
Jorge and I have talked about going to Cumberland Falls but haven’t made it yet. I’m a born and raised Kentuckian and have never seen one of our most famous sites.
Author
You need to put that on your “must do” list, Tammy. Check out a full moon time and go see the moonbow. That was so much fun when we got to do that a few years ago. But whether you go for the moonbow or for any day, the falls are worth the trip. When I was there the other day, I thought about how if would have been to be an early pioneer or an Americian Indian who came through the woods to the river to find the falls. While there are many small waterfalls here and there throughout the state, seeing the Cumberland Falls must have wowed those first explorers.
Happy Anniversary! What a lovely story.
Author
So glad you liked ready our how we met story, Dana. Thank you for your good wishes.
Happy anniversary!
Author
Thanks, Diana. I appreciate your good wishes.
My husband and I always talked about going back to our honeymoon spot for our 20th Anniversary and didn’t make it and my husband just recently saw photos of the resort we were at is now closed and abandoned. We took a sad stroll down memory lane as we remembered everything and saw it just sitting there abandoned and starting to decay. We can relate to not having the money that others did who were staying there and they sat us at a table that first night for a group dinner with a bunch of older people who weren’t watching their budgets like we were but still treated us younger newly married couple with kindness, but we were nervous at that meal. We did get a huge surprise once we got to the resort and ended up being upgraded to one of their top rooms because the one we booked (which was the cheapest) was not clean and things weren’t working correctly. I remember them calling our first room and saying we were being moved to one of their “Cleopatra” suits which was one of the most expensive and the lady calling me “Mrs. Swartzlander” it sticks in my head because it was the first time I had been called that and also because we were being moved to a suit we could have never afforded otherwise. The upgraded room was amazing and even had its own heart shaped pool! We have a lot of happy memories from our honeymoon, and I think we mostly remember it alike, but we do have lots of photos and even some home videos that my husband shot while we were there to help us remember. We laugh with our kids over his “commentary” as he recorded everything from the room and the outdoors but neither of us had ever stayed somewhere so fancy and we haven’t since, so it is good to have the recordings and our memories of it. I am glad you and your husband could go back to your honeymoon spot and relive the old memories and make some new ones. I pray that the Lord blesses you with many more happy years together. 🙂
Author
What a fun story, Hope. Thanks for sharing your honeymoon memories. It has to be neat for you to be able to relive it with the photos and videos. I think the two pictures I share here are the only ones we have of our honeymoon. Back then you didn’t have a phone in your pocket that could take dozens of pictures without the worry of buying film, etc. I admit to being a little overwhelmed by the idea of being married. Thank goodness our parents were supportive.
That had to be the nicest surprise to get upgraded to a lovely suite. The place may be gone but your memories will last forever.
On March 30, 2025, we will have been married for 50 years. That hardly seems possible, but we have been married longer than we weren’t married. His parents paid for our honeymoon flight, and we had each been working for a few years before we married. So, we were able to go on a really nice honeymoon to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. While we don’t plan a return trip for our 50th anniversary, we would like to go on a nice cruise. However, since my husband is recovering from 2 back surgeries since late August, I’m not sure what he’ll feel like doing. We are treasuring our time together!
Author
I hope your husband will make a good recovery and the two of you will be able to do something fun to celebrate that milestone of 50 years in a few months. The kids threw a party for us for our 50th. It’s amazing how fast the ten years since then have sped by.
I used to think about when I’d be married half my life on our 17th anniversary and now it just seems like all my life. 🙂
I knew that picture you posted on Facebook was at Cumberland Falls! There is no other place like that. You chose a good place for a honeymoon, a good place to revisit for your anniversary. Hoping for many more years together for the two of you.
Author
Thank you, Gin, for your good wishes. I think Cumberland Falls has long been a favorite honeymoon place, especially back a few years ago for Kentucky couples. Kentucky does have so many beautiful places to visit, but there’s something romantic about those falls.
Thank you for always sharing meaningful and uplifting posts. Keep up the amazing work.
Author
How kind of you to tell me that, Debra. Everybody needs to hear encouraging words and I just did – from you. Thank you.
Dear Ann, such a lovely story of how you and Darrell met, and fell in love. Having God in the center of your marriage, I am sure helped tremendously. Happy Anniversary to you both! Thank you for sharing your life and stories with all of us.
Author
Thanks for the anniversary wishes, Carrie. Glad you enjoyed our “how we met” story. A pretty average story of girl meets boy. Sharing our faith and making church attendance important in our lives was a good early bond for us.