When Eric and I got married, we didn't get much of a show of faith from anyone around here. Most gave it six months at best. So that now we are hitting the 30-year milestone, it is with a little awe that we did make it.
Our wedding was family only, held at the former Canal Fulton Dinner Theater on Portage Street, presided over by Reverend Kenneth Morrison. He was such a help to us! A friend of mine recommended him to us and when we went to meet him for the first time, he put us at ease. One of the exercises he gave us was to list the top 25 things in our life, and then put them in priority order. He also told us some interesting stories about a few of the 500 or so couples he had married. One couple came to him after some time had passed. My memory comes up with more than a year since their wedding. The reason they came to him is because the wife was so afraid that they had never consummated their union. The husband had been so patient!! But it was time to get something settled. And Reverend Morrison gave them counseling to help them over that hurdle.
After asking us some questions, Reverend Morrison was curious about a few of my answers. He wondered where I'd ever come up with that information. Well, it was a fairly simple answer. I'd attended a non-denominational Bible study for a couple of years. The "personal relationship" with God was emphasized quite a bit and I took it very much to heart, still do. Since that time, the more personal relationship with God has spread to all Christian churches.
After we married at Reverend Morrison's church, we went back to SS Philip & James Church and attended there every Sunday but did not receive the sacraments. One Sunday after we'd attended a Marriage Encounter weekend and the priest was talking about death, Eric asked me if he would be able to have the full Mass at church. I told him the truth -- no, there might be a service but there would be no Mass. At that moment he told me that he'd like to become a Catholic. So that was another interesting road to take. He went to RCIA for a complete year and yet our paperwork for being able to be married in the church wasn't complete. So he started yet another year of RCIA. At the end of that journey, approaching Easter Sunday, we got a call from Father Kulesa that everything was done and we were cleared.
We renewed our vows at church and my now dear friends, Mary and Arden Tohill, sang for us. They even had a little reception for us afterwards at the priest's house. It was so wonderful. And then that Saturday we both took part in the Easter Sunday vigil Mass which is lengthy but very beautiful.
And now it has been nearly 30 years! It is just amazing how the time has gone by so fast. I know everyone says that, but it is so true. I'm going to look through pictures tomorrow and set some out for our guests/family to see on Sunday. There are the wedding pictures, the building-the-house photos, the vacation photos, the school photos, the graduation photos, and all kinds of photos in between. And then the most precious photos -- the grandchildren's pictures. But you know, then there are the children's photographs. They are all precious!!
I activated this posting a little early -- like last evening. So here it goes again.
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