Our 41st Anniversary – Definitely Not the Usual!

Here it is…our 41^st wedding anniversary, right in the middle of a world-wide pandemic.  Like everything else, for everyone else, the dynamics and challenges of the current situation have caused deviations from the usual…

So the goal for everyone is to adapt and keep putting one foot in front of the other…never stop living life, even if its daily norms have changed.

Going back to the beginning…that is our beginning way back in April of 1979.

What a sweet couple!  This photo was taken just before the wedding.  The setting was our apartment off of Woods Mill Road in Chesterfield Missouri.  I look like a pretty dang happy cradle robber don’t I!  Poor sweet young ‘child bride’…she didn’t know what she was in for…

Our wedding took place on this date at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on Mason Road in Creve Coeur Missouri.  The newly married couple posing at the altar gazed lovingly at each other… (Damn, I actually had hair!)

Our wedding party was pretty small…after all we were ‘financially challenged’ at the time.  After the wedding the entire wedding party gathered for our reception at a local restaurant.  The group consisted of Father McNulty and his wife, both of our mothers, David II, the maid of honor, the best man…and the two of us…nine in all. 

For our ‘usual’ anniversary celebration our tendencies are to take a little road trip or to just enjoy a fine meal out somewhere.  One year we’d taken the back roads up to Roanoke Virginia.  On our way home we stopped at one of our favorite wineries…the Abingdon Vineyards near Abingdon Virginia. 

A couple of years ago, I’d asked Laurie which fine dining restaurant she fancied for our annual celebration.  She said that she didn’t feel like going upscale!  Steak ‘N Steak was her choice… She was happy and so was her life partner. (I had 2 double steak burgers and money to spare!)

Bonefish Grill is one of our favorites when it comes to celebrating our anniversary.  It’s a bit upscale without being over the top and we don’t cook much seafood at home.

Our waiter took this photo of us last year when we celebrated our anniversary at the Bonefish Grill in the Turkey Creek shopping area in Knoxville.  Happy time!  The world has changed quite a bit since then…

Well, no big anniversary dinner or road trip this year, that’s for sure!  We had planned to celebrate our 41^st in Laurel Mississippi…the home of HGTV’s show “Home Town”.  We’d been there once before and loved the downtown area and enjoyed some great food too.  The trip just wasn’t meant to be this time around.  Even without Covid-19 pandemic, just about a week ago the Laurel area was hit with its second devastating tornado of the spring.   

However a couple of days ago we did take a 3-hour ‘anniversary road trip’, driving the back roads and checking out the spring-time sights around East Tennessee.  Laurie took this selfie as we were driving.  The drive wasn’t quite the same as our usual multi-day adventure…no restaurants to dine in and no places for Laurie to shop…but it was a beautiful day!

So here is our official 41^st anniversary selfie…the happy couple dressed to go out and party in the Covid-19 era!  Flattering, don't you think?  At least no one can say that I’m not smiling…

Laurie insisted that we had to take another anniversary selfie, this time without our masks on… I acquiesced and this was the result.  I actually prefer my photo with the mask on!

In the post this coming Wednesday, I’ll include a couple of photos of our anniversary dinner this year as compared to last year as well as some other pictures from our cozy 2020 celebration.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave (Honey Bear) and Laurie (Sweetie Pie Pie)