Today is the 64th anniversary of our wedding. 

[Les and I are heading out for an overnight getaway at Grand Lake Lodge in the Rocky Mountains, where we spent our honeymoon. We plan to skip the dingy wedding-night-hotel this time. Been there. Done that.]

So in honor of our anniversary, I can describe our wedding no better than to quote from This Path We Share: 

Late afternoon sunlight, softened by the stained glass windows, caught in my white tulle veil and reflected on the simple white satin gown my mother had made.

I trembled as my father and I walked down the aisle of the small chapel of University Park Methodist Church, but Daddy steadied my arm. My ten-year-old sister, Jannie, and our cousin, Laurel, angelic in identical peach dresses, had lit the ivory candles in the candelabra on each side of a large bouquet of peach gladioli.

Did they stand next to my maid of honor in her borrowed sof-green dress? Was Les' brother Wendell, his best man, standing next to Les? I don't know. I saw only Les.

He waited at the altar–tall, ramrod straight and lean, like a fair-haired Vikiing–smiling, although his right fist tightened and relaxed, tighted and relaxed…

When the minister pronounced us man and wife, euphoria descended over me like a second veil. My dream had come true… I was Mrs. Les Hjelmstad.

(Excerpted from This Path We Share, (c) 2010, Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad.)

All I can say is that we are still the world's luckiest people.

more to come….

facebook   twitter