A Fiftieth Wedding anniversary

Cliff and I aren't much for weddings OR anniversaries.  But we received an invitation that we simply could not turn down.  

We didn't even live in this community when they got married.  They look so very young, don't they?  It's funny how the right people come into our lives at just the right time.   Neither Cliff nor I remember how we first got acquainted with them.  I was raising baby calves back then, and they had a dairy.  Maybe that's how we met in the 80's.  Perhaps I was buying bull calves from them.  

There came a time when Cliff was out of work for quite a spell.  Emmett needed some help around the farm, and Cliff needed something to do (and loved everything about farming, even though he was born a city boy).  It was a match made in heaven.  They paid Cliff with dairy bull calves for me to raise, so I had something to do that made a little money too.  When Cliff spent a day there, he ate the noon meal with them.  Their son, Jonathan, once told Cliff, "I like it when you are here for dinner, because we get dessert when you're here."  

I had some Jersey cows at the time, and Emmett knew how to do artificial insemination on cattle.  I had him order semen from a Jersey bull for me, and he came and bred my cows free.  

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.  This family turned hard times into one of the most memorable periods of our lives.  They moved away some years ago, but we were glad to touch bases with them again.

I saw a lot of people from my little town at the gathering today.  There were also several people from the church I used to attend.  It was a good day.

Their youngest daughter, Martha, reads my blog.  I should have asked her how she found it, but it doesn't matter, really.  

And Martha, if you are reading this, the Lathrop tractor show is next week; we drove up there to make sure.  So we didn't miss it and we will be there next Saturday with a tractor.  Possibly Friday too, but Saturday for sure.