What Was So Great About Our 50 Years Together?
We learned about the three "C's" of marriage; Companionship, Compromise, Consideration. In a nutshell, we survived, stuck by each other, and became better friends with each passing year.
Our wedding was fun! There were a few things missing -- invitations, guests, reception, decorations, cake, flowers, and spending lots of dollars. Our anniversary celebrations continued the same way. We agreed with my mom and dad on the premise, "Our anniversary is O U R anniversary." One year after another we seemed to find something we wanted to do together we really enjoyed.
However . . .
There was one occasion when our anniversary fell on Bob's day off, but I had to go to work. Bob celebrated alone by participating in one of our favorite sports, fishing. When I got home from work, I was presented with a great anniversary gift. I am being sarcastic when I use the words great and gift. There were two huge catfish swimming in our bathtub. Bob just wanted to save them to show me what good luck he had fishing. I don't rank this memory in the top 49 of anniversaries.
Nebraska Football or Going Fishing
Many times a Nebraska football game played a part in our celebrations. Once Devaney started the Big Red regime, tickets to a game have been a rare commodity; however, one year Nebraska happened to have a game on September 4 against the Oregon Ducks. I was so happy when my boss at the time had two tickets for me. We went to the game, the Big Red won and then we celebrated with other Big Red fans drinking beer at Barry's Bar and Grill on 9th and Q streets.
In the 1980's I worked at the Athletic Department and had tickets for all of the games. We didn't go very often because Bob worked Saturdays. Then one anniversary, there was a night game scheduled around September 6. We went out to eat and then to the game. I thought this was a really great way to celebrate, right? Wrong. This was the year the fickle Nebraska weather decided to be colder than . . . you fill in the gaps. It was also damp and drizzly. Now mind you, at a Nebraska game you don't want to drink too much of anything because getting out of that crowd and down to a bathroom is difficult to say the least. So, rule out drinking to stay warm. I must say it was a memorable anniversary.
Coming out here to Alma to fish and drink some beer at Doug's around the time of our anniversary was another special way we liked to celebrate when we could. For our 25th Anniversary, we forego a party for a fishing trip. First, I wanted to spend one night in the Holiday Inn in Kearney so we could eat at a special restaurant and I could swim in the pool, enjoy the hot tub, and get room service in the morning. Bob wasn't crazy about this part of the celebration. The next day we drove on to Alma to go fishing and to watch Nebraska play Florida State on the large screen TV at Doug's bar. We had a great time. For the life of me I cant remember if we caught any fish, but I can tell you it was hot, the beer was cold, and Nebraska got beat.
By the way, I had planned a trip to Los Vegas for our 40th anniversary. My statement to Bob was "With or without you, I am going to Vegas for our 40th anniversary." I changed my mind in June and agreed with Bob that the money would be much better spent on a Pontoon boat. I was never sorry. We had some good times and good fishing on that boat.
This Year
As the 2010 year began, I played around with some plans for how we would celebrate this milestone year. Basically I thought it would be fun to combine my 70th birthday, Bob's 75th birthday, and the 50th anniversary into one party. However, due to Bob's health and the situation with our estranged daughter, we continued the tradition and celebrated the Golden Anniversary Our Way. One thing was changed from our wedding and anniversaries, we had a cake, flowers, and decorations.
