We eloped!

14 years ago

We eloped 48 years ago today. I guess it took! Three kids and several moves to various states later, we are doing fine.

We plan to have a quiet dinner out tonight. I am still trying to get over a bad cold, so that will be enough hullabaloo for me. At least I have my voice back now if I don't try to talk too much.

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Comments (35)

gadgets
14 years ago
Congratulations. Not a lot of marriages last even 10 years anymore. Maybe you should have seminars on the reasons for your success.

Shirley
sheesh
14 years ago
Yes, congratulations. May you last another 48!
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These are some great stories. I'd like to share mine, since I think that it's pretty interesting. I met my husband over the phone. I was working at a new job after being unemployed for 8 months. I worked in the order dept for a very respected publishing company, taking phone orders. Since I was so elated to be working again I tended to be extremely pleasant and helpful in those early days so when I received a call from StonyBrook University's bookstore inquiring about one of their orders instead of transferring the call to customer service ( as we were supposed to do) I checked the status of the order myself & told the guy on the other end of the phone that it had shipped out about a week ago. Since Stony Brook Univ is about an hour away from our distribution center I was a bit baffled as to why they hadn't received the books yet. He asked how the books had been shipped and I replied "by armadillo?". He howled with laughter. We spoke again a few more times in the course of the regular order pool, then he started asking for me exclusiveley and after hours of conversations at work (it's a wonder that my co-workers never ratted me out) we started calling each other at home. Now, these marathon phone calls took place over the course of a year. The subject of appearance never came up, nor did the fact that both of us were currently involved in long term relationships (I was dating the world's biggest loser- gorgeous as anything but the "honey can you bail me out of jail 'cause I've got two simultaneous warrants for my arrest in two different counties" kind of loser.) So after a year and countless hours on the phone I was going out to Stony Brook to visit a dear friend and my phone pal, Bill, suggested that we meet for a drink. I offered to stop by the bookstore to find him. I had a vision of being able to spot him immediately in spite of having no idea what he looked like. I was crazy about this guy already and was convinced that I would just "know. Well. For starters once I arrived on campus I couldn't find the bookstore. Nor could I find anyone that could tell me where the bookstore was. Panicked that the store would close before I could get there, I found a payphone & called. I told Bill where I was, he told me to sit tight & he'd come find me. You need to picture this. It was 1992. I'm sporting an impressive black mohawk, multiply piereced ears, skull buckle boots, head to toe black. In strolls the early 90's equivalent of James Hetfield from Metallica, complete with long hair & impressive fu manchu moustache. SO not my mental image of my phone pal and so, so not my "type". I was devastated. You have to understand that at the time I was very, very superficial & most likely would never even have spoken to my now husband, much less dated him. Still, the evening went well once I got past his looks (I was such an idiot) and I figured that I wouldn't hold that against him (a pompous idiot). We went onward to my friend's house...who had just taken a home pregnancy test & greeted us waving the urine dipped stick. It was positive & she was delighted. Bill never batted an eye at the antics of my delirious friend, just took it all in stride. So I called him about a week later at home. I figured that there was no reason he & I couldn't continue our friendship even though he wasn't my type. He was very odd on the phone, very distracted & almost disinterested and it ocurred to me...much to my horror...that maybe he had a problem with MY appearance! How dare he! I was livid. I found out later that he was so distant over the phone because his GF of a bout 2 years was there, wanting to know who he was talking to, who I was, etc. A couple of months later he calls me at work & we pick up as if we'd never stopped. The marathon phone calls resumed & when I'd go out to visit my now very pregnant friend, he'd stop by her place as well. Still friends, still chatting, nothing else. By this time we had both shed our respective (in)significant others, though. We had our first real "date" in July...a friend's wedding in Buffalo where Bill told me that he never wanted to get married & I said I had no intentions of doing so either... & he asked me to marry him on Christmas eve. We'll have been married 13 years this March and I thank God every day for how lucky I am. The funny thing is that I come from a very, very old country Italian family. My father died when I was very young but my mother is very traditional & old fashioned. She is anti long hair on men, anti tattoo and definitely anti motorcycle but thinks that the sun rises & sets on my husband. After years of her absolutely forbidding me to learn to ride a motorcycle she was delighted when I got my license after Bill & I got married & thinks that it's wonderful how the two of us share that. I'm convinced that after the parade of freaks I brought through her house she was so ecstatic to see me end up marrying someone that was intelligent and respectful she didn't care how long his hair was. But she adores him as he does her and I'm very fortunate for that as well :-). Nina
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Hi Sheila Joyce ... and partner, Congratulations ... ... and, in addition to a couple of days initially ... youve had a 44-year honeymoon? Good wishes for many more worthwhile, interesting, productive, healthy, happy, helpful (and half-baked, on occasion) years together. ole joyful P.S. By the way ... what do they call a rejected suitor character that screws up a planned elopement ... an interloper?? o j
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I bought for my DS savings bonds, like his biological father's parents did for my engagement ring. DS cashed his in and I went with him to purchase have the diamond set into an engagement ring. Marriages did not work out for both, so now I have it in a pendant that I wear often. Mine is not a biggie, but I love it.
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Such a nice story, and congratulations on 50 years! I didn't realize Michener's Hawaii has been around that long. I loved that book. Good choice! :-)
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glenda_al
14 years ago
Happy for you and congratulations!
kayjones
14 years ago
What a feat!!! Congratulations to both of you!!!
Jamie_LA
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary!!!
folkvictorian
14 years ago
You CAN'T just say that you eloped without telling us all of the details! Spill the beans, willya? :)
socks
14 years ago
Yes, how far did you run away, and were the parents shocked?

Congratulations. You definitely did the right thing! You can both be very proud.
Georgysmom
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary.
mawheel
14 years ago
Congratulations on your anniversary; hope you have many more to celebrate.
OklaMoni
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary!!! and a wish, that your voice is back, magically when you get up in the morning. :)

Moni
User
14 years ago
Congratulations.... Hope you have many more years together..
susanjf_gw
14 years ago
enjoy your quiet time together...
nanny98
14 years ago
Congratulations!!!!! Wishing you many, many more./
sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, we met my senior year in college when he returned to the Midwest to be close to his grandparents, who raised him, while he finish his degree and worked on air at the local radio and tv station.

By the time he proposed, I was teaching, and he was working at a new job in Cincinnati and in graduate school there. (I had actually encouraged him to take the job figuring the distance would either bring me a proposal or a fresh break and life with someone else. I was ready for some decision making.) He called from the U of C library pay phone to propose. I had already planned to see him there at my Easter break the next week, and he had set up all the things necessary to get married, unbeknownst to me. Finally, the wife of the couple who would be our witnesses said that he had to let me in on it, that a bride would want to know. So he called the week before to propose, had a church and minister set, hair appointment set, photographer set, and 2 day honeymoon set. With his job, he had only 1 day off a week, so he had traded with someone else to get two days for our honeymoon.

He had talked to me some time before that to be sure that I was still open to eloping. With both my parents dead, and my siblings off on their own (California, Illinois and Japan) I knew life would be simpler if we just eloped. And his grandparents were not up to any event either.

So I married him in my navy Easter suit, and returned to my teaching position to finish out the school year and spend the summer there to finish my masters before joining him. And by the time I was ready to join him, he had taken a promotion and job in Washington, D. C.

So I was engaged 2 days before we married.
kacram
14 years ago
Happy anniversary!!!!!!!!!
susie53_gw
14 years ago
Sounds wonderful!! Loved your story... Sure sounds like true love to me... Isn't it funny how we just know we are right for one another??

We will be married 44 June 1st..
donna_loomis
14 years ago
What a beautiful story, Sheila Joyce! I am so impressed that your DH made all those plans in preparation for marrying you. Happy happy anniversary!
petaloid
14 years ago
That's terrific -- love plus longevity!
sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, my degrees were not in math. Over dinner tonight I recalculated the years, and this is #47, not #48.

Had prime rib of beef, creamed corn and mashed potatoes with a Pimms Cup. Skipped dessert!
mamatoad
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary!! It's heartwarming to know your marriage has lasted 47 years.( DH and I have made it 44.) Wishing you many more years of happiness!
folkvictorian
14 years ago
Beautiful story! Thank you and congratulations -- what a sweetheart he was to plan it all ahead of time!
Jasdip
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary SheilaJoyce!! With the cost of weddings nowadays, I think eloping is a great idea!
dedtired
14 years ago
Congratulations to you. I was hoping it would be one of those stories where he put a ladder up to your bedroom window and you sneaked off and got married by the Justice of the Peace, like in the old movies.

Your story is very romantic too, especially that it lasted.
socks
14 years ago
He's quite the organizer, isn't he?! Wonderful story, Sheila. Again, congratulations
User
14 years ago
Have a get day you two!
marry
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary!
What a wonderful story!
joann23456
14 years ago
Happy anniversary - and what a great story!
chisue
14 years ago
Thanks for sharing your love story! So...he was actually "on the air in Cincinnati"? (Remember the TV comedy "WKRP in Cincinnati"?)

(Many a man has longed for a wife who couldn't talk. LOL)

We're heading for #48 this autumn -- pretty much the extreme opposite of your nice, simple wedding and two day honeymoon, but we're still together too.
dollydolots
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary!
sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Yes, he was on WLW.
patti43
14 years ago
Your marriage is the sweetest story. Man, you guys had some will power! It would be so hard to be married and so far apart in that first year. Congratulations! Your dinner last night sounds delish!

As far as forgetting the number of years, last October I turned 68. But I thought I was 68 the year before that, so I'm on my second year of 68! It was kinda nice to learn I wasn't a year away from 70 :-)
mary3444
14 years ago
Happy anniversary to the both of you. My husband & I will be married 47 years in Sept & we only knew one another for 2 weeks before the big day.
sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Wow, Mary. You definitely take chances! Glad to hear this one turned out great.
cheryl_down_under
14 years ago
Happy Anniversary and congratulations to you both. Thank you for sharing your story with us - it was lovely.
sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Patti, it wasn't exactly will power. You get real practical when you are married and have very little money. I finished up teaching the school year for two reasons. First, this was a rural high school 15 miles from the city, and they may well have not been able to find a teacher for the rest of the year as this was an era of teacher shortages. I did not want to do that to my students. Moreover, I would be finishing my masters with the summer classes at the university in the city, or I would have had to start over. I did not want to do that and we looked forward to the greater income I could earn with a graduate degree. We are both financially practical people. When I finally joined my DH, I had $10 in my savings account after all the summer tuition and a final visit to the family dentist!

We eloped!

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