While we were at the Cape, we booked a dinner/train ride in Hyannis. We appreciated the special treatment!
After a delicious dinner and a yummy hot apple dessert, we were given champagne (first alcohol we have literally had in years), applauded by everyone in the train car and serenaded by saxophone.
For our 50th anniversary we decided to go to one of our favorite places, Cape Cod. We splurged for a ground floor room on the ocean in South Yarmouth. It was beautiful. Here was the view from our room.
It was beautiful but overcast every day.
On afternoon, a little bunny hung out with us munching away on the grass. He didn't mind us sitting there for quite a while.
The day before we were to leave, the winds picked up. At the National Seashore we could barely walk the beach. These were the waves back at South Yarmouth.
This is the view from the ocean of where we stayed.
Now the big mystery for us was that we noticed (how could we not) a pickup truck on the beach across the river (I believe it was Seagull Beach) and it was parked as far down as it could (though the park was closed at dusk) and pointing its lights into the ocean. I saw them a little one night and assumed they were night fishing or something. But the next night was when the wind picked up and they surely weren't fishing. The lights did light up the white caps well and I wondered if they were photographers, but I would say that was not the case either because they were there from dusk to dawn! All night they were there with their lights on the ocean. I asked several people at the resort and no one had any clue. Unfortunately, this appears it will be a great mystery for us.
I Do? or I Will?
I recently found a recording of when we took our wedding vows. I haven't listened to it. Maybe we should to see how well we have kept those vows.
But one thing I clearly remember is when the pastor said, "Will you, Debbie take George to be your husband?" I said, "I will." When he asked George "Will you...?" George replied the standard answer that we've seen in all the movies, "I do."
I was only 22 when we got married. Boy, was I young. So young that I panicked. After we walked down the aisle past our friends and family and after the receiving line, we saw the pastor. I immediately asked him if because George said "I do" instead of "I will" if it was legal? Naive me. Yes, we have been legally married all these years.
Kids
I guess they are my fault. We did talk briefly about having kids before we got married. It wasn't something that George thought about. I remember telling him that to me, it was having something we created together and having a piece of us to carry on. I guess I convinced him.
The other stipulation I had was we would have more than one. I was not going to have an only child like I was. We also agreed that two was plenty. We did not need a houseful of kids.
Both times it seemed to take a little longer to get pregnant than we had hoped. We were married 3 1/2 years before Tiffany was born. I was hoping for only two years between the kids, but Benjamin came along three years later. This is how we told my parents about the second one--of course, we were there in person when they opened the card.
Tiffany and Benjamin changed our lives immensely. Children are an awesome blessing, expense, joy-bringer, heartbreakers. The good always outweighed the bad. Sure, there were times they had me on my knees in prayer, but there were so many happy and proud moments too. I never realized how hard being a parent was. You question your actions and re-actions. You wonder what you are doing wrong and hope you are doing more things right in bringing up kids. Unfortunately, it's a learn-as-you-go process and there is no turning back once you've messed up. You learn and move forward and try to do better.
I am forever grateful for my two kids and I am proud of them. They are great human beings and a blessing to the earth--couldn't ask for more than that. Well, they also gave us grandchildren--wow. Until you get there, you don't know how awesome that is!
As for their names, Tiffany was narrowed down to Tiffany, Bethany and Sabra (George's grandmother). I will admit that the first time I heard the name Tiffany was the name of one of the teens on American Bandstand. For Benjamin, we were taking an old testament Bible study. I loved Elijah. George was afraid he would get teased--too close to Eliza. So, we went with Benjamin Elijah. I was happy when Ben named his youngest son, Elijah Joseph (Joseph after my Dad). He can go by Eli or EJ, but the latter he hasn't taken a liking to, but might one day, who knows?
This is taking so long to do these posts, that I can't dig up all the photos I would like to share. I hope to update at another date. In the meantime, here's some.
