Happy? Anniversary

I can't believe it has been 35 years since my brother walked me down that short aisle at the Hobart United Methodist Church. Earl was standing there in his white tux with the bowtie, sweat just about dripping from his nose - no A/C on that hot August day. We were fortunate the Italian Benevolent Society Hall (now a Mexican restaurant) was new and air-conditioned. The catering (from Mauer's in Hobart) was your regular CBS (chicken, beef & sausage), but was at least a 9 on a scale of 10 and only $2.95 a plate. That also included sides, salads and the table coverings. We had to cover the tables ourselves (in our gowns & tuxes!) but we saved money that way. Of course, that was when a couple came with their 3 or 4 kids and gave you $10.00. I guess everything is relative. Our "honeymoon suite" at the Holiday Inn (now the Radisson Hotel on I-65 & Rt. 30) was a regular guest room. We didn't go to Hawaii, Europe or even the Bahamas. We went to St. Louis, MO. The gasoline shortage had caused us to put a locking gas cap on our new Ford van that we drove down I-57. When we realized we had forgotten the key to the gas cap, we had to pry off the locking cap and replace with the original cap that we had kept in the glove box. We had no GPS or cell phone; we had to get Traveler's cheques instead of using a debit card. We had made our reservation by calling the Howard Johnson directly--no Internet-only rate or Hotels.com. As I recall, we didn't even have a credit card and had to pay for the room (I'm sure it was less than $29.00!) when we arrived. I called my mom on a pay phone (don't remember if I called "collect"!) to let her know we were safe. We didn't like staying at the "chain" hotels and went looking the next day for a "Mom & Pop" motel. We found a cute one not far from the Ho-Jo. It was quaint, very clean, and oozed of 1950's charm. It was also $14.00 a night. (and yes, there was a private bathroom and clean linens everyday.) We had a fabulous dinner on the Robert E. Lee, a former riverboat, now a permanently-docked restaurant. I remember having Shrimp Cocktail and Surf & Turf. Earl had some kind of beef and Crab. He also had a Shrimp Cocktail and a couple bites of my lobster. I know we both had a fancy mixed drink and I'm sure the bill was no more than $40 or $50. Early the next morning, I awoke to the sounds of Earl barfing in the toilet. Since he had not quite made it for the first heave, my first wifely duty was cleaning the bathroom floor at 2:30 in the morning. We spent a couple days at Six Flags Over St. Louis and also saw the Arch from the ground, but it was too busy to go up into it and I, being afraid of heights, probably was being a chicken. It may have been the first (but not the last) time that my husband missed out because of my hang-ups.
I'm sure much has changed since 1974: the church has updated their cooling system, you can't even rent a hotel room on the phone without a credit card and $14.00 might get you a pay-by-the hour room in which you wouldn't want to fall asleep, let alone take a shower. I no longer wear a size 12 or single-vision glasses. Leaving home without my cell phone causes a slight panic. Paying bills & viewing voice-mail online or the ability to find virtually anything on the Internet is probably the biggest change since 1974, besides postage: first class mail in 1974 for our wedding invitations and responses was 10 cents.
But like the $10.00 wedding gift, everything is relative. And it's amazing how fast 35 years can pass........