Wednesday Treasures - 51 Years and Counting

UPDATE: I just added this post to Throwback Thursday over at Seasides Simplicity!  Click on the link to check out other friends' posts!

For this week's "Wednesday Treasures" I am going back in time about 51 years to share some very special memories from my scrapbook.  If you've been with me for a while, you will recall that last year we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.   Here we are at a family celebration that was held at my brother in law's home in our honor:

And in keeping with tradition, we attempted to feed each other a cupcake:

We looked a little different than we did 51 years ago:

Yeah, this 51 year old wedding cake topper looks a little different too:

You can click on the following link to see what I wrote about that last year. Our actual anniversary is coming up this Sunday on August 16th.

 https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/08/happy-institutionor-funny-farm.html

Yes, last year was the big golden year, but we were in the process of moving into our new house at that time, so all of my "treasures" were boxed up and totally unavailable for sharing with you in the way I had intended back in the previous February when I posted this:  https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/02/valentines-day-fifty-years-ago.html

And so, in keeping with the Wednesday Treasures theme, I thought I would go back to my old scrapbook that I kept during our time of engagement and early wedding/honeymoon days, and share a few memories with you from that time:  (Warning, lots of pictures ahead...but you only celebrate 51 years of marriage once in a lifetime, so bear with me, please?)

Of course after our engagement had been announced there were the usual round of bridal showers.

This first invitation below was given to me at work, and it said it was for a bridal shower for another girl in our office who was also getting married soon.  But when I got to the shower, I was shocked to find out it was a surprise shower for me! 

Then the sweet ladies from my husband's church and his family also gave me a very lovely shower.

This picture and newspaper clipping will tell you more about it. The lady on the left in the picture is my husband's Aunt Dorothy, and I am on the right. Don't you just love our hairdos? We look more like twins than prospective "Aunt-in-law" and the nephew's "bride to be".  

Then my girlfriends from high school gave me a shower at my church:

On the left is my friend Lora Lee, my mother-in-law to be, Me, my mother, and my friend Carolyn, who also sang at our wedding.

And below is the group of girlfriends who attended. Some very special friends there, many of whom I had gone to school with from first grade all the way through 12th.  My cousin Becky and my husband's cousins Janice and Linda were there also. Very special time with some wonderful friends.

Speaking of showers and gifts, living in a small town, I did all the usual stuff that brides- to- be did...I picked out our "good wedding china", "silverware" (stainless), "every-day china", and also picked out my negligee for our honeymoon: (which I bought myself)

Believe it or not, I do still have that negligee! No, I am not going to model it here, but there it is...still intact albeit a little yellowed with age...I may just have to wear it for our anniversary! 

Won't "someone" be surprised?

A picture of our "everyday china" below

 Here is one of the dinner plates of our "every day china", which we use quite frequently:

And here is the stack of our "good wedding china", that we seldom use, but I do try to use it at least once a year. The problem is, it's not supposed to be put in the dishwasher, and so unless I have good helpers who are careful, I only use this for special occasions.

We lovingly call this butter dish the "butter casket".  LOL.

Cup of tea anyone?

And no, that Pink flamingo is not sitting inside the gravy boat! 

Yes, we also got a few pieces of crystal stemware, but not really enough to set the whole table, so it doesn't get used very often.  

And yes, that IS the silverware I picked out, but we didn't get any of it as wedding gifts. I believe it was when we'd been married about 30 years that we needed some new silverware, and hubby picked this out and got it for me for my birthday or Christmas I think. He didn't even realize that it was the exact same pattern that we had picked out all those years ago! So we did finally get it...just 30 years later!

As we were getting closer to our wedding date, we started searching for a place to live. My hubby was in his senior year of college and I left college after my freshman year to get a job working at an insurance company. He also had a part time job, but we wanted him to be able to concentrate on finishing and graduating, so we agreed I would work full time until he got his degree.  Anyway,

we needed a place to live near the college and my job. After searching for something affordable on our very limited budget, we finally found this apartment for rent for $100.00 a month, an upstairs "garage apartment" on a quiet street, with a sweet little old lady living downstairs. It was perfect.   This is my scribbled note when I called the landlord to get information and directions to find it. I remember hurrying over there after work to see it and we knew it was perfect and rented it right away before someone else could get it.  

Next I had to request permission to take time off to get married, so this was the "intra-company correspondence" that I wrote to my boss to get permission. Thankfully, my "leave" was approved.

And then this appeared in the paper a week after our wedding took place:

And here we are:

And after tossing my bouquet to some of those same hopeful friends who were at my bridal shower...

We were running out the door under a hail of rice...

(yes, I know that dress is awfully short, but it was 1969, after all!)

And we jumped in my hubby's classic Dodge Dart:

And away we went... Bright eyed and ready for a new adventure!

We spent our honeymoon at Daytona Beach, and would you look at that receipt: $20.00 a night for a lovely oceanfront suite...Yes, it was definitely 1969!  

And 51 years later we are still enjoying living "happily ever after".

I hope you enjoyed this little walk down memory lane with me. 51 years is a long time to spend with one person, but God, in His mercy, chose the "right one person" for me, and we are very blessed and thankful for all that He has done for us.  If I were to tell you that it has always been perfect, I would not be telling the truth. We have had ups and downs and serious issues just like every couple has sooner or later, but because we chose to build our marriage on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ from the beginning, I believe He has held us up and held us together when, if left to our own strength, we would have probably crumbled. I love that old hymn, "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand."

The Solid Rock (On Christ the Solid Rock)

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness

And I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly lean on Jesus' Name

On Christ the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

When darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil

On Christ the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand,

His oath, His covenant, His blood

Support me in the whelming flood

When all around my soul gives way

He then is all my Hope and Stay

On Christ the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

When He shall come with trumpet sound

Oh, may I then in Him be found

Dressed in His righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the throne

On Christ the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

God Is a Lot Like Mt. Washington

Psalm 121: 1-3 "I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber."

When we lived in the hills of New Hampshire, I had a favorite saying whenever I would take visitors around for a tour of the countryside and the numerous scenic vistas throughout our area.  It was, "On a clear day you can see Mt. Washington from here!"  Now granted, Mt. Washington is the 2nd highest mountain east of the Mississippi River, 2nd only to Mt.Mitchell in North Carolina. Its lofty summit can be seen from miles and miles around the Mt. Washington valley and the White Mountain region.  However, it is better known as the mountain upon which the highest wind gusts in America have ever been clocked...and also where you can be wearing short sleeves when you start up the incline to the summit, and be needing a snow parka, gloves and face mask by the time you reach the top.  It was a fascinating and mysterious place to live, full of wonder and excitement...if you like changeable weather and extremely cold temperatures.  But the views!  Oh! They were magnificent!   

What was really funny, many times as I would tell our guests my favorite line about the ability to see Mt. Washington on a clear day, they would laugh at me and say, "What mountain?"  "Are you really sure there is a huge mountain right there?"  You see, quite often the clouds would roll in and they would make the mountain totally disappear.  I have actually stood right at the base of the mountain, so close that I could reach out and touch the rocks, and not be able to see it in front of my face.  But I knew it was there...I knew I could depend on it to be there even when I couldn't see it. 

God is a lot like Mt. Washington. When my days are bright and sunny, with no clouds in my eyes...I can see God very clearly. There is no doubt in my mind that He is right there with me, because things are going "my way"...everything is just fine. I have no fears, no worries, no pain, no sorrow...just happy, delightful days of joy and bliss.  However, when the clouds of doubt and anxiety begin to roll in, and the stormy skies fill my mind with worry over my future or with concern about my loved ones and friends, suddenly it seems as though God has disappeared.  I can't see Him very clearly anymore.  I begin to wonder if He is really there at all.  Others may try to reassure me by saying He's right there beside me...but I become a bit uncertain. I want to be able to see His face again, and to reach out and touch Him as before so I can be assured of His presence.

Is that bad?  Is that a lack of faith?  Maybe...but I am human. I sometimes forget all the wonderful things God has already done for me.  I get bogged down in the "if only He hadn't have allowed this," or, "Why didn't God stop that from happening?", or "Why me?" or "Why my family or friend?"  I sometimes need someone to come alongside and remind me to reach out and touch the base of the mountain again...to remember what the Psalmist said as above,

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth."  (Psalm 121:1-2)

Verses 5-8 provide further comfort and reassurance of God's keeping power and strength:

"The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore."

Now that is a solid promise from God...even more solid than Mt. Washington!  I know I can depend on this solid Rock...

"On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand..."

Yes, on a clear day you can see Mt. Washington from here, and everyday, you can know that God is right here!!  Amen!

Here is a link to a similar post about Mt. Washington entitled "I Will Call Upon the Lord".