40 Years

We just celebrated 39 years of marriage. A long time, a life time, seeming very long when you say 39 years, but real time, seems very short. The other night, after celebrating with friends New Years eve, and we were snug in our bed, I brought to remembrance, our New Years eve 40 years before. Newlyweds, we had been married two weeks when we packed our Pinto and little trailer and left my mom's house the day after Christmas, and moved 5 states away, to Duane's home place, Tennessee. Though I had lived in many places in my 18 years of life, never had I moved from home. The 3 month apt living with girlfriends after graduation doesn't count. And I had not lived any place but the West coast. With much anticipation we drove. I documented our 5 days of road-tripping on a scrap of brown paper. An excerpt from the trip, outside of Albuquerque, I wrote, "I'm so thankful that the Lord brought us together--it's even better that we could drive across the Country together as man & wife". That just makes me smile. New Years eve, 40 years ago, we drove into Duane's grandparents place, fondly named, Vanatta's knob. Not much of a place, sitting on the corner, at one time you could probably see the River from the front porch, but a giant bridge redirects the view. A small, cigarette smoke filled house, two bedrooms, one bath, country house, with a front porch and gravel drive. This was our home for the first month of our new lives together while we looked for work and a place of our own.