The Past and the Now

When the past and the present mesh together it makes for an interesting evening. Saturday I attended a 60th wedding anniversary of two friends. Their children planned the evening with delicious food, wonderful decorations, a great band and in addition to the forty some immediate family members, many friends were in attendance also.

In the year 1955, sixty years ago, my friends were married at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Greeley, Colorado. Last night great-grandchildren praised their grandparents, grand-children told how much their grandparents were loved, adult children recalled growing up in a household of six girls and one boy and I spoke as a high school friend. I was introduced as "This is my mother's best friend from high school."

When I got up to speak how I wished for a better memory. I spoke on how our lives, my friend and I, were nonchalantly moving along in our senior year of high school. When a male family friend, who had been in the Navy appeared, it did not take long for a romance to flourish between the two.  One memory I had was how he would place a pack of cigarettes in the sleeve of his t-shirt and roll the sleeve up to keep his smokes. Also how my friend and I had been caught in a flood near Pierce, Colorado and had to be rescued by him and his brother. When they were married on August 29, 1955, I remember wearing a yellow dress and being one of the bridesmaids. As usually happens, after I sat down, I recalled many other incidents involving my friend and me!

As I heard bits and pieces of conversations, the one phrase I heard the most, was "Remember when.....!"
I saw people I had not seen in years and it was exciting to catch up on what they had been doing. I ran into a cousin and neither one of us recognized each other. When we did recognize each other we spoke about the past and also what was happening now. I saw a friend who also got married in 1955 and she and her husband danced beautifully on the dance floor. When I commented on how well they danced together, she

said, "You have got to remember that we have been dancing together since we were thirteen years old!"

What a glorious, festive time everyone had celebrating 60 years of my friend's marriage and remembering many memories! The decorations were black and white photographs on each table through out the room. If nothing else, those photos made us remember how we looked in our past.

Congratulations to my special friends. Congratulations to their children and their spouses who did an excellent job of making the celebration special. And congratulations for the large and beautiful family who
sticks together and meets every Sunday morning to be with each other. A very unique family and I am glad they include me as a "pretend" member of the family!