We both forgot our anniversary

Yes, today is our anniversary.  There was a time when I would remind Cliff about our anniversary long before it happened just so he'd take me out to eat.  He never cared whether he ate out or not, but we'd go to Olive Garden or a steak house.  

This morning I got up, recorded my Sunday song around five AM (I'm usually in my housecoat when I do my Sunday singing so early, but I like to get it out of the way).  My recording studio at that time of day is a bedroom at the opposite end of the house from our bedroom because I don't want to bother Cliff.  Chances are he wouldn't hear me if he did wake up, without his hearing aids; but I'm pretty loud, so I don't take chances.  He works pretty hard on weekends since he began helping the grandson build fence, and he ends up going to sleep on the couch while "watching TV", then getting up a little earlier than usual.  Today he woke up at 6:30.  We ate breakfast and talked some; by 9 AM he was outside with Arick working on fences, and I was getting ready to go to church (which takes me about five minutes).  I sat down with the MacBook, noticed the date, and realized for the first time it's our 54th anniversary!  I walked down to the fence to wish him a happy anniversary, thanked him for allowing me to live exactly the way I wanted to all these years, and went back to the house.  

This afternoon, I've been thinking about how he and I met.  I've probably told this story on my blog before, but I'll tell it again.  I worked with his sister at National Bellas Hess, and we became casual friends.  I had an apartment a couple of blocks from where we worked in North Kansas City; she came to visit sometimes, and spent a night or two, as I recall.  I played my guitar and sang a couple of songs for her, I guess, and she invited me to go home with her (she was living with her parents).  She wanted me to take my guitar along and sing some songs for her mom, who she said loved country music.  Melva did enjoy it; she thought I was a great singer.  I imagine I sang Honky Tonk Angel and Pick Me up on Your Way Down, because I sang those two often, and knew them well.  

When I got up early the next morning, Melva wanted Clifford to hear me sing.  He worked 3:30 to midnight, so he had missed my concert the night before.  Knowing him as I do now, I can't imagine how she managed to get him up at 6 AM after his working till midnight, but she did.  I sang a few songs, then Rena and I went to work.  I thought nothing about this encounter.  I was never one to flirt, never learned how.  It wasn't long, though, before he asked me out.  Two or three months later we got married.  We called Cliff's brother, got the name and phone number of his preacher, called him, and asked if he'd marry us.  We took Melva and Cliff's brother's wife, Faye, for witnesses.  The preacher asked, "What sort of ceremony do you want?" and Cliff said, "The shortest one you have."

I know it sounds like we were in a big hurry, but really we weren't.  I wasn't pregnant.  We just decided to tie the knot.  We had been talking about getting married anyhow, but at that time a man had to have his parents sign for him if he was under the age 21.  Cliff already had two siblings who had been in marriages that didn't last long, and I had heard his mom say that she was not signing for another of her children to get married.  So we told them we would be getting married June 16th.  Melva said, "Why are you waiting until then?"

"Because you said you didn't want to sign for another of your kids," I said.

"Oh well, I"ll sign for you-uns."

When I asked Cliff's dad if he'd heard we were getting married, he shook his head and said, "That boy's gone sex-crazy!" You would have to have known him; he'd had a rough life, and was a quite the pessimist.  He'd sit on the front porch of their house on Blue Ridge Cutoff watching traffic go by, and say, "I hate people.  People make me sick."  

So that's how Cliff ended up getting married two days before he turned 21.  Apparently the stars were aligned properly, because we've made it 54 years.  He was a city boy, but loved country things.  I liked farm animals and had some farm background, and he liked doing things with tractors.  

When I look back over the years, I realize I wouldn't change a thing about the way our lives have gone.  I would like to have changed some things I could have done better, I hope... maybe have tried to be a nicer person... but never would I have changed the life we've lived together.  We neither one care about fancy houses or cars, so we've been in agreement on that.  Most people would consider us poor, at any time of our lives, but we don't feel poor.  We got to live our dream of being in the country together.

It's been great!  Happy anniversary, Cliff.  Things are pretty tame these days, but we've had some exciting times.