The First Time Around

A little time capsule for your perusal this Thursday morning. The first time my parents got married, January 3, 1955. My father was in the Air Force at the time and stationed at Lowry AFB in Denver, Colorado. This may be the historic Eisenhower Chapel, although it was Chapel 1 in all the archive photos I found rather than 2 as it is labeled here. Mom would sometimes talk about her crazy Russian friend, Lillian Lazorenko, and that's her in the back row on the left. Next to her is James Barr who was best man. Partially blocked by Dad is Grandpa Knut, then Mom's sister Mamie, and Grandma Esther to the right. God, they were gorgeous! And Mom's shoes. I want those shoes! Little did they know that they would go on to have four children during their tumultuous marriage. And cart them around from Denver to North Dakota to Mississippi. Then back to North Dakota, again to Colorado, on to Las Vegas, Nevada only to return to North Dakota once more. From Western ND to Eastern ND then south to South Dakota. They divorced in 1973 and married for the second time in 1980, then split up again in less than three years. Everyone looks happy. Not just smiling-for-the-camera happy, but genuinely embarking-on-their-new-life-together happy. I wonder sometimes what any of us would do if we knew what the outcome would be. My guess is that knowledge would derail the leap of faith and render it extinct. Better to live it, walk through it, experience it as it unfolds. If you ask me, hindsight is much too neat and easy. I prefer the mess.