The picture on the right comes from June 9, 1984.
So today marks the 25th wedding anniversary for me and for Julie.
Some reflections from that day 25 years ago:
1. It was hot. 100 degrees hot. In Princeton, New Jersey. And the Princeton University Chapel, where we had the service, did not and does not have air conditioning. We all melted. Especially the pastor who performed the ceremony — I remember thinking, “man, his head is covered in sweat!”
2. I had just graduated from college five days earlier and so was in the middle of a couple of major life transitions.
3. My own family from Texas had been through every conceivable emotion (and some that are inconceivable) in the previous three weeks: on May 15, 1984, my older brother Clayton and his wife Geralyn had a daughter whom they named Amanda; then on May 19 my oldest sister Libby died of a sudden asthma attack (at the age of only 43); and then on May 27 my brother Harvey married Gayle. So as my family trekked to New Jersey for the graduation and then the wedding, you can imagine that they weren’t exactly sure what or how to feel. The circle of life . . . and then some.
4. When Julie came down the aisle with her dad, my best man whispered to me, “she looks gorgeous.” OK, he was a good best man. With good eyesight.
5. When we drove off for our honeymoon, that same best man threw some rice in the car. That car stayed at the hotel for the next ten days. Rice cooks inside hot cars. The smell never went away. Maybe he wasn’t such a good best man after all.
And here we are twenty-five years later.