"They Didn't Believe Me"

Mikey was 20 and I was 19 when we got married.  I would venture to say that a large majority of the people who knew us, thought we were too young, that it wouldn't last, that it was a BIG mistake.  No one ever said that to me but I know that it is true.  You could see it on their faces. 

We never thought so then.  Now when I think back, I can see how they might have come to that conclusion.  We were awfully young.  We had no money, we had no jobs, we had no prospects, but we had each other.  We were convinced that we would be just fine.  Nevertheless, "They Didn't Believe Me" when I said so.

And now in exactly six days we will reach our 45th wedding anniversary.  45 years!  Together!  Not all rainbows and roses, but not all black clouds and thunder either.  We made a life together. 

Ours was a small wedding, held in the chapel of the nuns' residence of Mikey's home parish.  Our reception was held at the home of one of my aunts.  We had only a maid of honor and a best man, no other attendants.  My walk down the aisle on my dad's arm was only about 20 feet from beginning to end.  Although the chapel was crowded (I loved that!), there were less than 50 people there, including the priest and the photographer!!

Not very many people who were at our wedding are still living.  My parents and Mikey's parents are gone, our best man and maid of honor are gone, all but one of the aunts and uncles are gone. 

Others we have lost track of.  I don't even remember everyone who was there.  I know we had several friends from school, but today only one of them is still a part of our lives.  As for the rest, our lives diverged almost immediately after the wedding and we never saw them again. 

The result is that if we were to have an anniversary party, the only original wedding guests who could be there are few.   My sister, three of Mikey's sisters, one uncle, our friend, Bonnie, and us.  That's a pretty small group.

So all those people who feared we would not make a success of our marriage were wrong.  Sadly though, most of them are no longer a part of our lives and cannot see that we are still together after 45 years!

Even though "They Didn't Believe Me", it was a good decision.  The bottom line is that at just 19 and 20 years old, we managed to know that we were supposed to be together.  And for 44 years, 51 weeks, and counting, we were right! 

Most of them would be surprised.   Frankly, sometimes, so are we!